An Investigation of the Impact of Social Media on Construction Project Management

Abstract

One of the most important aspects of managing a project is communication. Although this issue has been widely covered in management, a lack of attention has been given in the project management, slight is known as the impact of social media tools on construction project management. The main purpose of the present study is to explore the potential of social media for the construction of the project management and to understand some of the difficulties that arise from social media implementation. For this purpose a 12 question and 20-item questionnaire has been employed and distributed as a soft copy questionnaires among the sample of 400 engineers who work in the construction field, either in the private sector including contracting and consulting companies (grade one and two) or in the public sector in Jordan. The number of participants who said that they apply social media tools in their projects was 357, while 43 participants, were eliminated as they do not apply social media tools in their work. The collected data from 375 participants were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated that there is a positive impact of social media on project management and project team in construction projects especially in reducing time. Coringly, the study revealed the existing difficulties that arise from social media use in projects. The study also has concluded that using social media in the project is highly important to organize the management project recently. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091644 Full Text: PDF

Realizing the Need for Digital Transformation of Stakeholder Management: A Systematic Review in the Construction Industry

“…Ojelabi et al [83] concluded that social client relationship management (CRM 2.0) based on social media is not recognized in the construction sector, while it is often used in various other industries. According to this study [83], even if the concept of CRM 2.0 is implemented in a construction business, lack of control and lack of effective communication of protocols to employees are potential threats to business, which is in line with some other suggestions that it would be advisable to regulate and professionalize social media usage as a stakeholder management tool [77]. Al-Shehan and Assbeihat [77] advise project managers to fuse offline and online strategies to improve more effective stakeholder management, which is in line with Ninan et al's [25] predictions that social media usage for external stakeholder management can vastly contribute to successful engagement.…”

“…According to this study [83], even if the concept of CRM 2.0 is implemented in a construction business, lack of control and lack of effective communication of protocols to employees are potential threats to business, which is in line with some other suggestions that it would be advisable to regulate and professionalize social media usage as a stakeholder management tool [77]. Al-Shehan and Assbeihat [77] advise project managers to fuse offline and online strategies to improve more effective stakeholder management, which is in line with Ninan et al's [25] predictions that social media usage for external stakeholder management can vastly contribute to successful engagement. Williams et al's [84] findings indicate that the majority of online stakeholders opposed the observed project, and they formed stable clusters that were not prone to a change of heart no matter what engagement strategy was used, probably because the engagement of the affected community started too late.…”

“…Social media platforms have become omnipresent in our daily life, and this is due to their convenience of use; users access social media from their smartphones at any time and from any place [77]. Social media entered into the field of project management, and it has been increasingly used in communication with construction project stakeholders [77]. Some scholars predict that new digital ways of communication will transform project stakeholder management, providing both opportunities and challenges [78].…”

“…The challenges of using social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter) for consulting and informing public stakeholders must be taken seriously because there is a risk of a perceived lack of responsiveness [78]. Al-Shehan and Assbeihat [77] pointed to the fact that project managers are increasingly using various types of social media for management of their internal team because it is a very efficient (fast with low cost) way to carry out information. Beyond a communication tool, online social media can be used for the analysis of connectivity among project stakeholders and can help to understand the typology of a project's online followers by segmenting their vested interests [82], while combining it with existing approaches provides a stronger basis for planning management strategies [84].…”