Influences on innovation benefits during implementation: Client's perspective

This study investigates critical factors that significantly affect the benefits of an innovation to the clients and the project as a whole during implementation from the perspective of construction clients. A survey was conducted in Hong Kong, and data from 35 projects that had adopted innovations were collected via mailed questionnaires from project clients. The questionnaire requested respondents to provide specific data about their projects, the type of innovations adopted, and the enablers and barriers to innovation. We found that innovative solutions were particularly beneficial if they were mainly intended to solve technical difficulties in projects and if they were implemented by forming separate implementation teams and by establishing coordination and monitoring mechanisms at the project level. Moreover, we found that the construction clients' technical capabilities, provision of special training opportunities, and management interests before and after the innovation was implemented were also factors in attaining innovation benefits.