Incumbent Actions in Adopting Preventive Innovations: Cases in the Finnish Construction Sector

Wood construction differs from traditional concrete materials in technical and organizational requirements for which it can be studied as an innovation, and thanks to health and climate change mitigation and prevention capabilities, wood construction can be categorized as a preventive innovation. The purpose of this study is to explore incumbent actions in the adoption of wood materials. The context of this paper is an interview study that analyzes public procurement of school buildings that illustrate the role of incumbent actions in the adoption of wood materials. We study the actions of incumbent organizations and identify how these actions relate to the preventive innovation’s elements of probability, severity, and time-lapse to see benefits. Findings indicate that the probability and severity of an unwanted event make incumbents more likely to select wood materials and future-oriented benefits are not a deterrent for adoption but instead, are often utilized to argue potentially larger investments. This study provides an overview of prevention-related benefits derived from building materials and highlights what construction sector incumbents ponder when adopting innovations.