Achieving building sustainability through application of information system and stakeholder alignment

Creating the conditions for sustainable economic growth within a constantly changing environment is a key concern for government and as such developing sustainable buildings is one of the key strategies. This research aims to seek an understanding of how improved stakeholder alignment impacts the use of information technology (IT) systems deployed in support of building sustainability, from multi-disciplinary perspectives including policy, IT and building. Specifically, this research aims to investigate how a better understanding of socio-structural patterns influences alignment, and subsequently, how this alignment impacts effective system use and performance outcomes, in terms of building sustainability, which involves multiple stakeholders in the construction industry, from government policy makers, designers, constructors, suppliers and end users. The IT alignment literature is dominated by a focus on strategy formulation within relatively simple organisation forms. In contrast, little is known about how stakeholder alignment is enacted to improve the use of mandated IT systems. To address this gap, we: (1) identify the factors that influence the effective use of such IT systems; (2) investigate how strategic alignment among stakeholders within project related networks impacts on effective use; and (3) propose and test a stakeholder alignment model to explain effective use of a mandated sustainability system within the Australian building industry. By using a government mandatory building sustainability policy, which was implemented through an internet-based IT system as a case example, a conceptual model and research approaches and methods have been developed.