Governance units as interstitial organizations: The role of governance organizations in the development and establishment of building environmental assessment methods (beam)

Green Building has been touted as the future of building construction. However its emergence, due to the fluidity of the green building concept, is sometimes fraught with power struggles in the debate over which standards and practices to be adopted. With the emergence of BEAMs, much hope has been put on their associated third-party certification organizations to help forge a common ground for green building adoption. These organizations are boundary spanning, involving both public and private entities, and traversing multiple professional jurisdictions and organizational fields. Despite wielding much influence in the development, establishment and promotion of BEAMs, the authority and legitimacy of governance organizations are being questioned as to whose interest they serve, and whether they promote realistic green building practices. We argue that the establishment of governance organizations, whether they are the collective creation of industry actors or are imposed and controlled by powerful actors, influence their authority and acceptance as legitimate custodians for BEAMs. Drawing on the field theory proposed by Fligstein and McAdam (2012) and the concept of interstitial emergence, we explore the emergence and establishment of governance organizations for BEAMS in the building industry. We conceptualize governance organizations as emerging in interstices between various organizational fields, and explain how various resources are mobilized to carve a legitimate social space for their operations. Situated in an interstitial space, battle for control of interstitial organizations is inevitable as actors constantly jostle for position and engage in various strategic actions aimed at promoting practices that advance their interest. The argument put forward is illustrated by providing a narrative discourse of the nexus of events leading to the establishment of the HK-Green Building Council and the HK-BEAM Society. The paper concludes by highlighting the difference in legitimacy between governance organizations which are imposed and those created through collective action.