Inducing change in a conservative industry: The effects of simulation gaming on behavioural change in the construction sector

Because in the past, assignments of infrastructure projects became less specific and increasingly complex over time, construction companies had to start joining forces and working together to be able to deliver these projects. This asked for a change in behaviour of the employees on these projects. According to literature, in other industries, simulation games proofed to be helpful to induce such a behavioural change. However, a knowledge gap exists about the effectivity of applying a simulation game to induce a behavioural change in the construction sector. Certain characteristics of the construction industry make it difficult for employees in this sector to change their behaviour, which makes it seem too blunt to assume that simulation gaming would have the same positive effects on behavioural change in this industry, as it has in other industries. Therefore, the goal of this research is to fill the knowledge gap surrounding the application of a simulation game to a construction company by conducting an empirical research into the effectiveness of the application of a simulation game to a behavioural change process in a construction company. It was established that a simulation game can be considered effective when it induces a behavioural change or a change in attitude of participants. With help of interviews, questionnaires and observation it was investigated if such a development in attitude or behaviour arose in the company under investigation. Within the timespan of this research no behavioural change was measured and also a change in attitude was only measured amongst a part of the participants. It can be concluded that the investigated simulation game was not effective to induce a behavioural change in the construction company. However, as a simulation game has the characteristic that every game-run is different, this game could yield a completely different result when applied to another company. Therefore it cannot be assumed that the results from this research are representative for the entire construction sector. It is recommended to conduct further research into the application of other simulation games to other construction companies. By comparing the results of the different cases a better idea about the real effects that a simulation game could have on a behavioural change in a construction company can be formed. Next to this, recommendations were stated to the company under investigation to improve their simulation game.