Sebastian Kussl

• Kussl, Sebastian (2025). Identity and Adaptation: The Evolving Role of Public Sector Professionals in the Digital Transformation of Road Transportation. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. p. 1–20. doi: 10.1080/01900692.2025.2542310. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines the digital transformation of European Road Transport Agencies (RTAs), analyzing their shift from infrastructure management to digital service integration. Using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, it explores how professionals in RTAs navigate evolving governance, operations, and expectations. Findings reveal tensions between engineering identities and service-oriented digitalization, alongside fragmented interdepartmental dynamics. Challenging the view that external drivers primarily shape digital adoption in public organisations, the study highlights internal professional identities and cultures as critical factors. By linking digital transformation with institutional theory, it advances understanding of technological change in public administration and offers insights relevant for practitioners overseeing digital governance reforms.

• Kussl, Sebastian & Wald, Andreas Erich (2025). The role of construction clients in digital innovation: insights from scenario analysis. Construction Management and Economics. ISSN 0144-6193. 43(5), p. 381–404. doi: 10.1080/01446193.2024.2443658. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The dynamic relationship between clients and the construction industry has been pivotal for construction innovation. While existing research focuses on procurement or Building Information Modeling (BIM) implementation, the client’s digital transformation, as a decisive factor in fostering broader construction innovation, is often overlooked. This study investigates how construction client organizations influence industry innovation through their digital transformation, aiding in the development of refined industry-specific innovation strategies and long-term planning. The study develops a conceptual framework to map the digital transformation of construction clients, providing insights into how this transformation is influenced by innovation dynamics—competition versus collaboration—and varying levels of digital maturity, incorporating principles of Construction 4.0, which emphasizes integrated digital systems beyond isolated technology adoption. Through in-depth interviews, this study develops and analyzes various scenarios for public construction client organizations’ digital transformation. These scenarios— the pragmatic adopter, standard setter, collaborator, and visionary—emerge from the narratives of opinion leaders and the development of ‘Digital Transformation Dynamics’ and ‘Digital Component’ portfolios. Each scenario includes a distinct composition of these portfolios and results in a specific role that construction clients play in promoting digital innovation within the industry. However, real-world actions of construction clients likely vary and may span across the described scenarios, resulting in an ambiguous client role characterized by goal conflicts and tensions, complicating industry adoption. This study enhances awareness of these complexities and highlights that the client’s role in innovation may diverge from traditional industry expectations.

• Kussl, Sebastian; Wald, Andreas Erich & Flak, Leif Skiftenes (2025). Change must come from within: A Study of Digital Transformation in Construction Client Organisations. Journal of construction engineering and management. ISSN 0733-9364. 151(3), p. 05024017-1–05024017-13. doi: 10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-1508. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Digital transformation strategies in various industries are shifting stakeholders’ expectations regarding the construction sector’s capacity to provide efficient and high-value digital solutions. In response, construction organizations are adopting digital technologies to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and overall quality of their design, operations and project delivery. Despite the growing prevalence of digital technologies, the construction sector lags in its effective adoption and benefit realization. The construction literature predominantly addresses a direct link between the use of digital technology and its attributed benefits, overlooking the critical dimension of intraorganizational change to realize them. A notable gap exists in the systematic understanding of how construction organizations define and approach digital transformation in their daily practices and how it can be conceptualized for the construction sector. This study pivots toward exploring organizational-level impacts of digital technology implementation and delves into the evolution of strategic assumptions and management practices essential for realizing digital transformation, a concept developed in the management and information system literature. Because construction client organizations play a pivotal role in driving industry-wide change, 24 experts from six organizations across four countries were interviewed by employing an exploratory qualitative research approach. The findings underscore a critical insight: the effectiveness of digital technology implementation in construction hinges significantly on an organization’s readiness to embrace holistic, internal change. This study proposes a conceptual model centered on innovation management, business transformation, data precedence, change leadership, and digital governance, framing these as the essential elements for harnessing the full potential of digital technology. This study contributes to the evolving discussion of digital transformation in the construction sector, highlighting that fundamental changes cannot solely be imposed through external forces; instead, they must originate internally—“change must come from within.”

• Kussl, Sebastian; Wald, Andreas Erich & Flak, Leif Skiftenes (2025). Change Must Come from within: Study of Digital Transformation in Construction Client Organizations. Journal of construction engineering and management. ISSN 0733-9364. 151(3). doi: 10.1061/JCEMD4.COENG-15089. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Digital transformation strategies in various industries are shifting stakeholders’ expectations regarding the construction sector’s capacity to provide efficient and high-value digital solutions. In response, construction organizations are adopting digital technologies to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and overall quality of their design, operations and project delivery. Despite the growing prevalence of digital technologies, the construction sector lags in its effective adoption and benefit realization. The construction literature predominantly addresses a direct link between the use of digital technology and its attributed benefits, overlooking the critical dimension of intraorganizational change to realize them. A notable gap exists in the systematic understanding of how construction organizations define and approach digital transformation in their daily practices and how it can be conceptualized for the construction sector. This study pivots toward exploring organizational-level impacts of digital technology implementation and delves into the evolution of strategic assumptions and management practices essential for realizing digital transformation, a concept developed in the management and information system literature. Because construction client organizations play a pivotal role in driving industry-wide change, 24 experts from six organizations across four countries were interviewed by employing an exploratory qualitative research approach. The findings underscore a critical insight: the effectiveness of digital technology implementation in construction hinges significantly on an organization’s readiness to embrace holistic, internal change. This study proposes a conceptual model centered on innovation management, business transformation, data precedence, change leadership, and digital governance, framing these as the essential elements for harnessing the full potential of digital technology. This study contributes to the evolving discussion of digital transformation in the construction sector, highlighting that fundamental changes cannot solely be imposed through external forces; instead, they must originate internally—“change must come from within.”

• Kussl, Sebastian; Omberg, Kristian Sørby & Lekang, Odd Ivar (2023). Advancing Vehicle Classification: A Novel Framework for Type, Model, and Fuel Identification Using Nonvisual Sensor Systems for Seamless Data Sharing. IEEE Sensors Journal. ISSN 1530-437X. 23(17), p. 19390–19397. doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2023.3289230. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Vehicle classification (VC) down to type and model is exclusively visual-/image-based and struggles with restricted data availability and latency in data-sharing toward an increasing market of public and private mobility service providers. This article presents a framework architecture for VC down to type and model using a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) intrusive magnetic sensor system combined with advanced machine learning (ML). The framework follows the principles of “privacy-by-design” (PbD) and adds fuel identification as a new attribute. The framework was validated in an experiment on nine predefined passenger car models, confirming the capability of nonvisual sensors to classify vehicle type, model, and fuel. This innovative approach has the potential to significantly impact how transport and infrastructure agencies collect, process, and share intelligent traffic monitoring systems (ITMS) data in the future, providing more accurate and detailed information for improving roadway utilization efficiency, predicting transportation needs, enhancing transportation safety, and reducing environmental impact. The work proposes a system framework, experimental design, and evaluation against automatic number plate recognition. The evaluation involved collaboration among various partners, including academia, public road administration, and private companies, with diverse interests that need to be preserved due to significant development progress.

• Kussl, Sebastian & Wald, Andreas Erich (2023). Smart Mobility and Its Implications for Road Infrastructure Provision: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability. 15(1), p. 1–20. doi: 10.3390/su15010210. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Emerging smart mobility concepts suggest solutions for more effective and environmentally friendly transportation. Given their importance in enabling smart mobility, road infrastructure networks have received limited attention. Questions concerning the development of various isolated smart mobility solutions dominate the discourse, including only a few detached and unaligned implications towards road infrastructure provision. As a result, the development, operation, and functionality of road infrastructure networks are remarkably unchanged, and the deployment of smart mobility solutions remains tentative. The objective of this study was to investigate how road infrastructure must adapt to facilitate a smart mobility transition, not for a single solution but as a socio-technical system transition. As no compiled knowledge for this objective exists, a systematic literature review was performed to consolidate and inductively analyse the literature on smart mobility solutions. Based on the results, implications for road infrastructure provision were identified, and as a path forward, a conceptual model for the digital transformation of road infrastructure is presented. By using smart mobility as the antecedent for changes in road infrastructure provision, this paper contributes to an increased understanding of user-driven, industrial transformations and advances the current product/project view on digitalisation in infrastructure provision with broader value implications. The main contributions of this study are concrete pathways for road infrastructure provision that support smart mobility.

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• Kussl, Sebastian (2024). From Asphalt to Algorithms: Digital Transformation in Road Construction. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788284272191. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This dissertation, "From Asphalt to Algorithms: Digital Transformation in Road Construction", explores the potential impact of digital transformation in the traditionally slow-to-adapt road construction sector. It aims to develop an understanding of how lagging sector industries can move towards a digital transformation ideal. Through five research papers, the dissertation comprehensively examines socio-technical implications, intra-organizational dynamics, future pathways, public sector particularities, and practical applications of various aspects of digital transformation in road construction. Challenging narratives of digital transformation characterized by urgency and disruption, the results support a gradual, integrative approach to infrastructural, individual, organizational, and sectoral change that highlights the crucial role of the construction client, who is positioned at the heart of this transformation. The dissertation delineates a clear pathway for policymakers and practitioners, advocating for strategic digital integration and a culture of innovation essential for advancing road construction efficiency and sustainability. It also lays out a research agenda to further explore and support this transformative journey.

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