ABSTRACT
In this final chapter, some of the implications from the four studies of the construction industry will be examined. In this discussion, the concepts of institutionalization and, more specifically, the institutionalization of knowledge will be used to show how knowledge is not just emerging ex nihilo, but is instead carefully embedded in pre-existing routines, practices, roles and ideologies already in place in a social field. In the first chapter of the book, a sociological view of knowledge as what is always based on practice, which in turn is strongly determined by institutions, such as professional and occupational ideologies, and organizational routines and standard operation procedures, was discussed. Following this line of reasoning, this chapter suggests that the institutionalization of knowledge is by no means an uncomplicated or predetermined process, but is instead a process affected by the interests and power of the social groups and communities involved in the institutionalization process. The institutionalization of knowledge is therefore characterized by a combination of conflict and dissent, and consensus and joint agreements. After this more theoretical discussion, some practical and managerial implications are addressed.
