Competitive threat or win-win cooperation? Evolutionary analysis of digital alliances in construction

Recent years have witnessed the advantages of digital transformation in terms of efficiency improvement, waste reduction, and cleaner production in the construction industry. Construction enterprises tried to maximize the benefits of digital transformation in the whole industry by building digital alliances. However, previous studies lack attention to the factors and mechanisms that affect the stability of digital alliances, especially for construction enterprises facing transformation difficulties. Within this context, this study addresses this issue by constructing a hybrid model combining evolutionary game and system dynamics to explore the dynamic influence of multiple factors on the stability of digital alliances in construction. First, according to the dynamic evolution philosophy, an evolutionary game model for the competition and cooperation relationship of the digital alliance of construction enterprises was constructed; Then, the impact of initial willingness, government incentives, and other factors on the stability of digital alliances was analyzed, and numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the impact of these factors; Finally, relevant multidimensional strategies were proposed based on the dynamic analysis results. This study contributes to the stable strategy mechanism of the digital alliance for construction enterprises from the perspective of dynamic competition and cooperation, which makes up for current research gaps, provides future research areas, and provides a practical instrument for the industry. These findings broaden the research framework of digital transformation and help construction enterprises survive and development in the digital environment.