Information Richness in Construction Projects: a Critical Social Theory

Two important factors influencing the communication in construction projects are the interests of the people involved and the language spoken by the people involved. The objective of the paper is to analyse these factors by using recent insights in the information richness theory. The critical social theory is used to study the communication richness in computer mediated communication in construction projects. This perspective views people not as passive receptacles of whatever data or information that is transported to them, but as intelligent actors who assess the truth, rightness, adequacy, truthfulness, and comprehensibility of the message they receive. From the critical social theory perspective it is investigated which action types are used by actors and how actors in construction projects criticise the rightness of what is communicated to them by reproducing power relationships while trying to satisfy their own interests and achieve mutual understanding. The result of our study is a set of questions that will be answered in future empirical research..