Norwegian Construction Leaders’ Views on Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0: Reality or Utopia? An Empirical Study Involving 70 Leaders in Norway’s Construction Industry

This article examines how managers in the Norwegian construction industry—represented by bachelor’s students in construction site management—perceive and understand the concepts of Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0. The study focuses on participants’ interpretations, reflections, and expectations regarding these emerging frameworks. Using qualitative data, the research draws on insights from 70 part-time students with full-time industry positions, organised into 15 interdisciplinary groups. The findings show that participants were familiar with the core ideas of Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0 and were able to identify both opportunities and challenges. They emphasised the increasing importance of human roles in Industry 5.0 compared with Industry 4.0. A successful transition toward these paradigms will require strengthened competence, self-directed learning, and investment in both skills and technology, aligning with the needs of a knowledge-intensive and sustainability-oriented society. Participants highlighted the Norwegian working life model as an advantage, noting its compatibility with the human-centred principles of Industry 5.0. The article contributes to understanding how future construction managers interpret these concepts and offers an analysis of resilience, including vulnerability and capacity, within a Norwegian context.