Drivers and barriers to digitalisation: a cross-analysis of the views of designers and builders in the construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry around the world has identified the significance of digitalisation, and a wide range of research has explored the drivers and barriers of digitalisation within the construction industry. However, none has compared the views of designers and builders separately. Hence, this research critically reviewed drivers and barriers that affect the digitalisation of construction for designers and builders with an in-depth cross analysis. A detailed survey was conducted to capture drivers and barriers to digitalisation impacting the building sector in NSW, Australia. The survey captured the views of 542 respondents (347 designers and 195 builders), enabling the interpretation of results at a 95% level of confidence. Descriptive statistics were interpreted and cross analysis between designers and builders, and within different organisation sizes were conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test. The survey findings were further verified through a series of primary stakeholder interviews (designers, builders, and software service providers). The findings of the survey, the cross-analysis, and the interviews were triangulated and collectively discussed to derive an in-depth understanding of drivers and barriers. ‘Greater level of accuracy and trustworthiness’ was rated the most important driver by both designers and builders, despite having significantly different response profiles. On the other hand, ‘high cost of software’ was rated the greatest barrier to digitalisation by both parties, whereas their response profiles were similar according to the cross analysis. In contrast to the designers, all builders had rated the top barriers in a similar way, irrespective of the size of the organisations. The results provide a greater understanding on the diverse views of designers and builders on drivers and barriers to the digitalisation of construction in NSW. This will direct government programmes and policy decisions to avoid considering both designers and builders as a monolithic block, when aiming at improving the state of digitalisation and performance of the construction industry.