Critical Factors in the Willingness to Adopt Innovative Wood- based Building Materials in the ...

268 Pages·2017·4.11 MB·English

Critical Factors in the Willingness to Adopt Innovative Wood-
based Building Materials in the Construction Industry:
The Case of CLT

A DISSERTATION

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY

Maria Fernanda Laguarda Mallo

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIERMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Advisor
Dr. Omar Alejandro Espinoza

October 2017
©Maria Fernanda Laguarda Mallo 2017
©Copyright 2017
Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr. Omar Espinoza, for accepting me to join
his research group and for his guidance, support and advice during my studies at the
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. His knowledge, kindness,
flexibility and patience helped me become a better professional. My sincere gratitude to
Dr. Robert Seavey, Dr. Urs Buehlmann, and Dr. Jerrold Winandy for their service on
my committee, their time, valuable feedback on this dissertation, and their help to my
graduate studies. I would also like to thank Prof. Patrick Huelman, Prof. Renée Cheng
and Prof. Peter Hilger, for their help and their invaluable support. I would also like to
thank University of Minnesota Professors Robert delMas and Ernest Davenport from
Quantitative Method Education group at the Educational Psychology Department, for their
help on statistical procedures employed in Chapter 7. I would like to thank the Department
of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Graduate program and in particular Dr. Gary
Sands and Dr. Shri Ramaswamy for giving me the opportunity to pursue my graduate
studies at the University of Minnesota.

My gratitude is also extended to Jake Tanumihardjo, for his constant love, friendship,
support and encouragement over the past two years. Thank you for joining me in this roller-
coaster ride and for always being there for me when I needed you the most.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest love and everlasting
appreciation to my dearest parents, brother and grandmother for their unconditional
love, understanding, support, sacrifice and complete confidence in me. Thank you for
always letting me know that, as a Team, no matter wherever I am in the world, you are
always there for me.

Thank you!
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Dedication

To my Family
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Abstract
Energy use and carbon emissions from the built environment have been gaining significant
attention worldwide. The construction of buildings across the world is currently dominated
by concrete, but production of cement, a primary ingredient in concrete, is a major source
of pollution, producing a ton of CO for every ton of cement. One approach to reducing
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the environmental impacts of construction involves increasing the use of materials with
lower environmental footprints, such as wood. However, the utilization of wood as a
building material is not free from challenges. Because wood is a natural material, its
properties are not homogeneous, and it must be protected from biological attack. The
development of Engineered Wood Products (EWP) was in part a response to those
challenges, while at the same time allowing a more efficient use of raw materials. EWPs
are manufactured to targeted structural properties. New EWPs, such as Cross-Laminated
Timber (CLT), have increased the possibilities of building with wood. CLT consists of
multi-layer panels, manufactured with lumber that are glued together, alternating the
direction of their fibers for each layer. Cross-lamination confers CLT rigidity, stability and
desirable mechanical properties. CLT is currently being used for a wide range of
applications, such as houses, high-rise apartment and office buildings, schools, bridges,
and wind turbine towers, among others. This has added visibility to the system, which has
been able to compete with steel, brick, and concrete in the European markets since its
introduction more than two decades ago. The successful introduction of CLT into the
Canadian market indicates that there is potential for further market penetration in North
America, and more specifically the United States.
To increase the understanding of the market potential for CLT in the U.S., this dissertation
aimed at identifying the critical factors influencing the willingness of U.S. construction
professionals to adopt innovative wood-based construction materials. The overall objective
was achieved by: (a) investigating the level of awareness, perceptions, and willingness to
adopt CLT among structural engineers and construction firms; (b) developing a conceptual
model including the most critical factors that influence the adoption of innovate wood-
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based construction materials among structural engineers and construction firms; and (c)
identifying distinct market segments for CLT adoption in the U.S.
Through a series of surveys and interviews to U.S. engineering and construction firms, this
study found that environmental performance was the main perceived advantage of CLT.
Another important benefit of CLT over traditional construction systems, as perceived by
construction professionals, is the lower labor cost and faster construction associated with
building with CLT. U.S. construction professionals also mentioned CLT’s aesthetic
attributes as an advantage of the system. The most commonly cited disadvantages of CLT
were its fire performance, durability, and lack of availability in the U.S. market. Regarding
familiarity with CLT among the target audience, results show that the level of awareness
about CLT is low. Barriers to CLT’s adoption in the U.S. market, as perceived by
construction professionals, are lack of availability in the domestic market, high
maintenance costs, and lack of experience working with CLT among professionals. Both
U.S. engineering and construction firms seem to be interested in adopting CLT for future
projects, especially if it is cost-competitive with traditional building systems. Results show
that diffusion of knowledge about CLT and the role of early adopters will be essential for
the successful introduction of this new building technology into the U.S. market.
The conceptual model developed for U.S. engineering firms includes factors such as firm
size, aesthetics, moisture performance, vibration performance, LEED credits, and
availability of design tools as the main factors affecting willingness to adopt innovative
wood-based construction materials such as CLT. In regards to construction firms, location,
innovativeness, level of awareness, maintenance requirements, durability, vibration
performance, labor cost, and LEED credits were associated with willingness to adopt CLT.
Using cluster analysis, distinct market segments were identified in the two populations of
interest (U.S. engineering and construction firms). From this analysis, priorities and
demographics of those segments were also identified. This information is useful to develop
better marketing strategies to target potential adopters and provide more customized
services, products, and better design educational programs.
The outcomes from this research helps fill the gap in the knowledge about the market
adoption process for innovative wood-based materials in the construction industry. This
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study also advances the development of the CLT industry in the U.S. by increasing the
demand of wood-based construction materials and supporting the creation of employment
in a sector of critical importance to the U.S. economy. The target audience for this study is
comprised of construction professionals, manufacturers, organizations supporting the
wood industry, government agencies, and building officials. Findings from this thesis
provide useful information that will help these actors accelerate the adoption of CLT
through well-designed educational programs, demonstration projects, marketing strategies,
and policy incentives.

Keywords: Cross-laminated timber (CLT), massive timber, engineered wood products,
sustainable buildings, wood-based construction, adoption, willingness, perceptions,
segmentation.

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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... I
DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. II
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................III
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ VI
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. XIII
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... XV
CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 2
LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................................... 4
CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER ....................................................................................................................... 6
CLT’s properties .................................................................................................................................... 8
Environmental performance .................................................................................................................. 8
Installation simplicity and cost competitiveness .................................................................................. 10
Structural performance ........................................................................................................................ 11
Design flexibility .................................................................................................................................. 13
Fire performance ................................................................................................................................. 14
Seismic performance ............................................................................................................................ 16
Thermal performance .......................................................................................................................... 17
Design possibilities of CLT .................................................................................................................. 18
Market opportunity for CLT ................................................................................................................ 20
THE PROCESS OF NEW PRODUCT ADOPTION ............................................................................................... 21
Innovation ............................................................................................................................................ 21
Product adoption ................................................................................................................................. 21
New product adoption process............................................................................................................. 22
Innovation adoption in the forest products industry ............................................................................ 23
Innovation adoption in the construction industry ................................................................................ 24
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................................... 25
HYPOTHESES ............................................................................................................................................. 29
PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................................................................................................. 29
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................. 30
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS ...................................................................................................................... 31
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Contributions to the field of wood science and technology ................................................................. 31
Contributions to the field of sustainable building ................................................................................ 31
Practical contributions and business implications .............................................................................. 32
OUTCOMES ................................................................................................................................................ 32
DELIVERABLES .......................................................................................................................................... 33
RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 33
(1) Literature review ............................................................................................................................ 34
(2) Survey of U.S. engineering firms .................................................................................................... 34
Data analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 35
(3) Interviews of U.S. engineering firms .............................................................................................. 36
Data analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 36
(4) Survey of U.S. construction firms ................................................................................................... 37
Data analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 37
(5) Interviews of U.S. construction firms ............................................................................................. 38
(6) Model development ........................................................................................................................ 38
Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 38
(7) Market segmentation for CLT in the U.S........................................................................................ 39
Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 39
STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................. 41
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 42
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................... 43
Sample size determination ................................................................................................................... 43
Sample development ............................................................................................................................ 43
Questionnaire development ................................................................................................................. 44
Survey pretest ....................................................................................................................................... 45
Survey implementation ......................................................................................................................... 45
Data analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 46
LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 46
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 47
Response rate ....................................................................................................................................... 47
Non-response bias assessment ............................................................................................................. 47
Company demographics ...................................................................................................................... 48
Sources of information ......................................................................................................................... 49
Innovativeness ...................................................................................................................................... 50
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Type of buildings .................................................................................................................................. 52
Materials used by type of construction ................................................................................................ 53
Importance of materials characteristics .............................................................................................. 54
Level of awareness ............................................................................................................................... 56
Perceptions about CLT ........................................................................................................................ 58
Willingness to adopt CLT .................................................................................................................... 60
Barriers to the adoption of CLT ........................................................................................................... 61
CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 63
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................................. 64
CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................. 65
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 66
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................... 67
Questionnaire design ........................................................................................................................... 67
Interview implementation .................................................................................................................... 68
LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 68
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 69
Demographic information .................................................................................................................... 69
Type of buildings .................................................................................................................................. 70
Type of structural materials used ........................................................................................................ 71
Perceptions about wood as a structural material ................................................................................ 73
Roles of construction professionals ..................................................................................................... 75
Sources of information ......................................................................................................................... 76
Innovativeness ...................................................................................................................................... 76
Level of awareness ............................................................................................................................... 78
Perceived benefits and disadvantages of CLT ..................................................................................... 78
Perceived factors affecting the adoption of CLT in the U.S................................................................. 80
Likelihood of adoption ......................................................................................................................... 81
CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 82
CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................. 85
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 86
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................... 87
Sample size determination ................................................................................................................... 87
Sample development ............................................................................................................................ 87
Questionnaire development ................................................................................................................. 88
Survey Pretest ...................................................................................................................................... 88
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