Evaluating the Impact of Micro-Level Changes on Macro-Level Network Structures in AEC Project Teams

Most architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects experienced disruptions, changes, or cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To compensate for the adversarial effects of this unexpected situation, some project owners stopped and restarted their projects after evaluating their scope and timeline, which caused changes in role assignments and communication structures. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding how communication network structures changed at the macro level with the involvement of new individuals at the micro level for the projects paused and restarted. Thus, this study examines the changes in the individuals occupying key roles and the impact of their egocentric networks on the project networks considering performance values. The research team collected archival, e-mail exchange, and survey data from an AEC project during the construction phase and conducted social network analysis. The study findings demonstrated that network topologies and collaboration patterns were different before and after the involvement of new project members. Especially, the new project manager acting as a network bridge prevented the formation of subgroup structure and contributed to the existence of the core-periphery structure. The results add to the body of knowledge by providing empirical observation on the macro-level effects of micro-level changes in AEC teams.