Navigating dynamics with a sociotechnical perspective to asset management performance

Abstract

Organisations aim to create value from infrastructure assets under varying circumstances with asset management. Asset management is inherently complex with multiple interacting actors and processes, varying asset stages, and evolving contextual conditions. While performance management should enable the evolution and improvement of asset management, conventional approaches often neglect its complexity and dynamic nature. In this study, we adopt a sociotechnical system perspective to asset management performance to (i) explain how performance results from interdependencies across social and technical elements and their alignment and (ii) embed adaptation to contextual change as intrinsic to performance management. We developed and demonstrated this perspective with an abductive research approach based on an in-depth study of asset management for storm surge barriers, providing a unique and safety-critical infrastructure context. We iterated between theory and field data to code interdependency associated with performance pathways and consolidated them into sociotechnical alignments. Based on these empirical results, we developed a conceptual model for monitoring and managing asset management performance over time, connecting it to leading indicators and performance outcomes. We made the model actionable by linking contextual signals to the alignments they disturb and directing targeted sociotechnical adjustments. By integrating sociotechnical systems into asset management performance, this study contributes to the theory with a contemporary approach to performance, while emphasising adaptation. The findings provide context-specific insights while demonstrating a methodological approach that can be adapted to other infrastructure domains operating under dynamic governance and operational conditions.