Mapping Minds: Cognitive Social Structures and Stakeholder Perception in BIM Projects

Abstract

This study pioneers the use of cognitive social structures (CSS) to investigate cognitive accuracy as a key aspect of stakeholder perception in building information modeling (BIM) implementation and examines its relationship with stakeholder collaboration satisfaction. Cognitive accuracy, the extent to which stakeholders’ mental representations align with actual project social relations, influences collaboration outcomes in BIM adoption. Despite evidence linking cognitive accuracy to positive organizational outcomes, it remains unexplored in BIM research. Drawing on two case studies, i.e., a residential-commercial project (11 stakeholders) and a polyclinic project (12 stakeholders), this paper measured stakeholders’ collaboration satisfaction and cognitive accuracy using CSS. Actual social networks were constructed using row-dominated locally aggregated structures, with cognitive accuracy ( S 14 ) quantified by comparing stakeholders’ cognitions against these networks. Findings reveal a correlation between collaboration satisfaction and cognitive accuracy ( p = 0.046 ). Results also indicate a significant difference in cognitive accuracy based on a stakeholder’s role ( p = 0.013 ), with managers, owners, contractors, and designers demonstrating progressively decreasing levels of accuracy. As one of the first studies examining how stakeholders’ understanding of social networks affects BIM collaboration, this research introduces the CSS framework to the construction field. It provides novel empirical evidence showing that a stakeholder’s formal role significantly predicts cognitive accuracy, which is positively correlated with collaboration satisfaction. These findings enable practitioners to identify roles with lower cognitive accuracy, thereby facilitating targeted interventions to improve project relations understanding, enhance collaboration, and support successful BIM implementation.