Exploring industrialised house-builders' perceptions of local requirement setting : An institutional logics perspective

Industrialised house-builders (IHBs) are housing contractors who use standardised processes and building systems as a means to time and cost efficiently address the current housing shortage in Sweden. Recent governmental investigations argue that the mandate for local planning authorities (LPAs) to intentionally set stricter requirements than those prescribed in the national building code can stifle the potential for increased industrialisation. The aim of this paper is to explore IHBs’ perceptions of local requirement setting (LRS). It seeks to use the concept of institutional logic to advance the understanding of how LRS affects IHBs. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with representatives of five IHBs encompassing a mix of building systems spanning the Swedish multi-family housing market. From the data we identify three distinct categories of LRS: intentional, interpretive and public procurement-related. The respondents' perceived issues with LRS are found to relate more closely to the process of setting requirements than to the requirements themselves. The political debate about LRS has entirely neglected interpretive LRS, LRS in public procurement as well as the entire process perspective. Institutional logics is shown to offer new and interesting perspectives on the agency/structure dominated cognitive and intra-organisational processes that shape the emergence of local requirements in interpretative LRS and LRS in public procurement respectively. Since LRS is affected both by individual planning officers (agency) and the LPA organisation (structure) further studies will explore their perceptions of LRS.Godkänd; 2014; Bibliografisk uppgift: CIOB Innovation and Sustainability Award; 20140912 (vindak