Browsing by Research Output - Author "Abankwa, Derek Asante"

The advances in globalisation and technology have had significant impacts on the work environment, as they make various jobs more dynamic and fast-paced. Changing technologies such as digital transformation and automation require employees to adapt to new ways of working. To prevent the resistance to change, adaptive employees have become essential ingreidents for organisation’s success. This study considers the reactive approach of individual adaptability, which is seen as modifying one's behaviour to meet the demands of a new situation, event or a changing environment. The study employed an exploratory research approach to understand the concept of individual adaptability to technological changes in construction organisations. It involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with three top management professionals and four construction workers from four different firms. These organisations were selected based on their number of employees, main construction business as contractors and investments towards technological changes. The findings indicated that individual adaptability is a performance construct instead of a personal characteristic. Workers are not involved in the decision-making processes regarding technological changes. Furthermore, the difficulties in implementing technological changes mainly consist of changing the mindset of workers, who have used the same method for a long time, and a lack of investment in innovation methods. The study identifies leadership, experience and open-mindedness as the predictors of adaptation to new technology. Workers consider learning through training as adaptive behaviour in technologically advanced environments. We propose future empirical studies on adaptability and trainability.

The advances in globalisation and technology have had significant impacts on the work environment, as they make various jobs more dynamic and fast-paced. Adaptive employees have become essential ingredients for organisations’ success. Changing technologies such as digital transformation and automation require employees to adapt to new ways of working. This study considers the reactive approach of individual adaptability, which is seen as modifying one's behaviour to meet the demands of a new situation, event or a changing environment. Other definitions suggest that adaptive performance can be proactive to the anticipated future changes in the environment. The study employed an exploratory research approach to understand the concept of individual adaptability to technological changes in construction organisations. It involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with three top management professionals and four construction workers from four different firms. These organisations were selected based on their number of employees, main construction business as contractors, and investments towards technological changes. The findings indicated that individual adaptability is a performance construct instead of a personal characteristic. Workers are not involved in the decision-making processes regarding technological changes. Furthermore, the difficulties in implementing technological changes mainly consist of changing the mindset of workers who have used the same method for a long time and a lack of investment in innovation methods. The study identifies leadership, experience and open-mindedness as the predictors of adaptation to new technology. Workers consider learning through training as adaptive behaviour in technologically advanced environments. We propose future empirical studies on adaptability and trainability.

The world’s population is getting older these days. Frailty, a gerontologic health condition associated with ageing, has serious consequences. One crucial remedy for the elderly population is the development of ageing-in-place infrastructures. To better understand the market requirements for ageing housing units, the causes of downsizing and the governmental measures to ameliorate the situation, face-to-face in-depth individual and focus group interviews were conducted in this study. Elderly residents of two significant ageing-in-place institutions in Hong Kong, along with their caregivers, were interviewed. The method of methodological triangulation was used to combine interviews, records, and communication tools to increase the reliability and trustworthiness of the findings. The provision of facilities for the elderly has successfully established a pathway for creating and making housing spaces available to families who need larger homes, while the elderly typically downsize from larger homes and relieve their financial needs. It is also found that a digital divide exists; some respondents suggested that they do not know about computers and do not use smart facilities in their homes.

Open access

Recently, various ubiquitous technological advancements have benefitted knowledge sharing in different sectors. As there is a close relationship between safety knowledge and awareness, this paper examines the use of Web 2.0, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile applications in construction safety knowledge sharing for enhancing safety awareness at work. The use of such technologies can improve internal and external communication as well as collaboration. A quantitative survey was conducted to investigate the willingness and uptake of advanced technologies in the Hong Kong construction industry. Out of 23 respondents, 16 were eager to use mobile applications to share safety information. Regarding safety knowledge sharing via Web 2.0, respondents perceived a variety of barriers for not using it, such as the need to protect their company’s privacy issues made them hesitant to share knowledge regarding safety issues; others were of the opinion that Web 2.0 was managed by the elite in the organisation. Only three respondents have used Web 2.0 platforms. The willingness to apply IoT was relatively negative due to the perceived extra operation costs.