Diffusing BIM – knowledge integration mechanisms and their effects

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has for a number of years been seen as a systemic interorganizational innovation that will have great impact on the efficiency of the construction process as a whole. In this study both successful and unsuccessful attempts to diffuse a BIMservice in the construction sector by a building material manufacturer has been studied through multiple data collection methods. Of special interest has been in what ways knowledge has been integrated, i.e. what mechanisms has been used in the case, since it is a key area for diffusion, and this is described and discussed. Furthermore, the contextual characteristics of the construction sector have been highlighted as influential on diffusion, especially when it comes to areas such as learning, flow of knowledge and feedback loops. Therefore, the context of the different cases and in what ways this affects the knowledge integration process is also described and discussed.