Engaging the Construction Supply Chain: A Pluralistic Perspective

Construction Supply Chain Management (CSCM) has recently gained momentum as a means of improving the construction industry's productivity. However, it has been difficult to create a dominant paradigm that translates CSCM into effective and value-added practices. Drawing on a critical literature review combining insights from Neo-Institutional Theory and Engaged Scholarship principles, the paper presents an alternative practice oriented framework for advancing CSCM. The contribution is a supplement to the macro-oriented agenda typically associated with industrial change, which often neglects to consider the relationship between micro-practices and institutional logics in the effort of progress. In particular, the proposed framework acknowledges pluralism and contextual sensitivity as a prerequisite for providing greater insight into the problematic and messy nature of industry change. In conclusion, the role of micro-level agency is agued to be instrumental for the further progress of CSCM. Thus, the paper attempts to re-orientate CSCM by presenting a framework based on participatory analysis and critical discussions combining field and individual-level perspectives. The research limitations are affected by the CSCM research conducted in non-positivistic paradigms, which involves a certain amount of subjectivity as some of the arguments depends on the authors' perceptions.