Leadership for the future: Towards the challenge of understanding leadership in the AEC sector

The Irish Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector faces ongoing challenges relating to low productivity, digital adoption, sustainability, and innovation. Effective leadership is required to transform the sector to address these challenges and meet the future needs of society. However, there remains a lack of empirical evidence relating to leadership requirements, assessment, and development, in the context of the Irish AEC sector. As part of an ongoing study with the aim of developing resources to support leadership development, this research, conducted through a review of literature, examines how leadership is being assessed and explored in the AEC sector. The findings highlight the importance of leadership in addressing critical issues facing the sector including innovation, modernisation, sustainability, and safety. Furthermore, the findings underscore methodological challenges faced in exploring leadership in practice from a solely positivist quantitative approach. This research makes important contributions by highlighting current trends in AEC leadership research, and illuminating the contextual complexity surrounding what is effective leadership in the AEC sector.