2.1 Role of theory in construction management research
Construction management is a moderately new field that draws from both the natural and social sciences. Attributable to its situation as the mid-point between engineering and management, researchers in the field are confronted with the adoption of an objective (engineering) paradigm - where the attention is on discovering something genuine with regards to the world it centers around, or a subjective (social science/management) paradigm - where the goal is to see the way that various truths are established (Lauri, 2008). As a result of this quandary, positivism and quantitative techniques have been in the ascendancy in construction management research (Dainty, 2007). Nonetheless, the discussion about the role of theory in construction management research began during the 1990s and was driven by Seymour and Rooke (1995), Rooke et al. (1997), Loosemore et al. (1999), Dainty (2008), and Seymour et al. (1998).
The discussion was significantly started on the contention that the research methods taken on by the construction management researchers have directed the focal point of the field however gave a limited advance in the comprehension of industry peculiarities (Phelps et al., 2010). In the following discussion, a portion of the researchers contended that the ‘object’ of most construction management research is people; while some argued otherwise. The result of the discussion prompted the agreement that the culture of research should change if researchers were to impact the industry (AlSehaimi et al., 2013). Rather than restricting construction management research to quantitative or qualitative methods; endeavors ought to be made to pick research philosophy as indicated by the nature of the investigation and expected contribution to knowledge.
As indicated by Gay and Weaver (2011), unique research ought to add to the assemblage of knowledge in the appropriate discipline or space. Since the theory is the cash of academic exploration, theory-building and testing are the best methods to contribute to knowledge (Hughes, 1999; Corley and Gioia, 2011). The degree to which research fabricates new theory and the degree to which existing theories are validated determine the extent to which a theoretical contribution to knowledge could be made (Colquitt and Zapata-Phelan, 2007). Theory building and testing will be a huge step forward for construction management because the development of theories and advancement of knowledge proceeds from them (de Valence, 2012). This suggests that construction management is an alternate set of management and by so it requires theories and principles formulated from theoretical contributions and implications. Nonetheless, there is an innate intricacy in the construction industry and the majority of the research in this field is still issue-centered.