Development of a collaborative innovation management framework to assist in the utilisation of agricultural waste as building materials in Nigeria

Odewole, AO

Abstract

The high cost of building materials in Nigeria is creating a shortfall of conventional building materials, which is also exacerbating the housing crisis in Nigerian urban areas. In view of the above, there is an urgent need to produce low cost, sustainable building materials that are affordable to the construction industry in Nigeria to reduce construction cost associated with the shortage of housing in Nigeria. Although there is a recent interest in the transformation of waste materials into raw materials required for producing building materials, however the focus in this regard has been on general household waste materials with little or no attention paid to agricultural waste materials. Indeed, agricultural waste materials have been neglected and no effort made towards harnessing the substantial opportunities that abound in the utilization of the increasingly large agricultural waste materials generated. Therefore, this research integrates and analyses the organisational structure of construction, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors in order to develop a framework to assist in the better utilisation of agricultural waste materials as building material.
The research adopted a mixed methods approach using pragmatic philosophical stance as the main basis of the research. In terms of the strategy, it adopts a case study strategy that follows an abductive approach derived from both inductive and deductive approach. Data is obtained through synthesis of literature reviews, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires from multiple cases from stakeholder’s organisations in Nigeria. The research findings revealed that there is non-existence of institutional actor’s that can assist in the utilisation of agricultural waste for building construction purposes. Hence the development of organisational innovation management framework that would better integrate the stakeholders that are involved in the implementation of management approach in converting agricultural waste to building materials. The developed framework shows an innovative organisational hierarchical process of how agricultural waste materials can be used or converted as building materials that involve the government as well as the other stakeholders. The framework was also validated using construction professional through a focus group setting to help determine if the framework will be viable in practice. To this end, this study reveals that there is an existing gap in the organizational structure required for the delivery of agricultural waste for building construction purposes. This research also has the potential to contribute to the policy debate on the issue of using agricultural waste materials as construction materials to help fill the shortfall of conventional building materials.
Keywords: Agricultural Waste Materials, Building Materials, Framework, Innovation, Nigerian Construction Industry.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 15, 2020
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2020