scholarly journals Construction Technology Adoption Cube: An Investigation on Process, Factors, Barriers, Drivers, and Decision Makers using NVivo and AHP Analysis

Author(s):  
Samad Sepasgozar ◽  
Steven Davis

Due to the complexity, high-risk, and conservative character of construction companies, advanced digital technologies do not become widely adopted in the short term, while vendors make determined efforts to overcome this and disseminate their technologies. This paper presents the methods of an investigation addressing the extremely complex issues related to the current practices of digital technology adoption in construction. It discusses how construction companies follow a specific logical process linked to need, project objectives, characteristics of the adopting organization, and the characteristics of the new technology to be adopted. The study aims to demonstrate a novel method of data collection and analysis including data and methodological triangulation techniques including the use of NVivo and AHP to explore how companies make the decision to uptake a new technology (e.g. advanced crane, tunnel boring machine or drones) by focusing on customer and vendor activities, their interactions, contributing factors, and people involved in the process. The major original contribution of this paper is to develop an innovative methodological Cube for investigating the Construction Technology Adoption Process (CTAP) covering technology adoption, acceptance, diffusion and implementation concepts. CTAP is a framework that delineates the phases of the process that customer organizations use when deciding to adopt a new digital technology and the parallel vendor activities. The significance of these contributions is that they enable vendors to understand how to match their strategies with customer expectations in each phase of the CTAP. It also provides a benchmark for new construction companies to use the current best practice of decision making. Future research is warranted to more clearly delineate any differences with developing nations or related industries such as mining and property management.

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepasgozar ◽  
Davis

The construction technology market is competitive and complicated, due to the high-risk of digital technology utilisation in construction projects and the conservative character of construction companies. This complexity affects the process of job-site technology dissemination and adoption in which construction companies make decisions to purchase and utilise the new technology. The complexity is one of the reasons that many new remote technologies, positioning and locating systems, lasers and drones, 3D printing, and robots are not widely adopted in the short term, despite vendors making determined efforts to overcome this. Three objectives are investigated in this paper: (i) to define criteria for examining patterns of vendors’ strategies to support technology adoption; (ii) to present fact-based evidence of different vendors’ demonstration methods; and (iii) to present examples of different technology groups based on their required strategies. This paper presents the results of a longitudinal investigation of the construction technology market, including patterns of technology demonstration and a conceptual model of classifying vendors and their technologies in construction market places. The model involves the three most important factors that distinguish technology exhibitors: Physical appearance, Interpersonal relationship and Technology demonstration. Data was collected from technology exhibitions, involving randomly selected vendors. This data was analysed using hierarchical and c-means clustering techniques. The hard-clustering techniques resulted in vendors being placed in five classes based on the elements of the PIT framework. Fuzzy analysis shows how these classes fit into an underlying strategy spectrum. Understanding the strategies used in each class enables new vendors to select their own dissemination strategies based on their own particular circumstances. The practical implication of this study is to present a set of dissemination strategies to new technology stakeholders involved in Industry 4.0. The identified patterns of technology vendor strategies and the novel conceptual model contribute to the body of knowledge in technology diffusion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar ◽  
Martin Loosemore ◽  
Steven R. Davis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of research in information and equipment technology adoption in the construction industry. The study also aims to formulate a conceptual framework of the different stages in the adoption process identify gaps in the existing literature and to provide a holistic picture of contemporary research in technology adoption in construction research literature. Design/methodology/approach – A generic framework is initially proposed containing the fundamental concepts of “pre-adoption”, “adoption” and “post-adoption”. The review separates the literature according to three key perspectives: “socio-economic”; “managerial”; and “psychological”. The applicability of the existing approaches to the construction context is discussed, and then a new conceptual framework for construction is developed. Findings – Significant gaps in the understanding of construction technology adoption are identified that provide an interesting agenda for future research. A Construction Technology Adoption Framework is presented, which draws together all of sub-processes involved in technology adoption. This framework covers key activities of both the vendor and the customer. Research limitations/implications – The study has been restricted to information technologies and construction equipment technology. Other construction technologies, such as formwork systems, have not been examined. Practical implications – The new framework provides a direction for research into the technology adoption process including key sub-processes and potential research areas. The framework also assists vendors to influence customers’ decision-making processes, and guides new customers in setting up their own decision procedures. Originality/value – This paper departs from earlier research by focusing on information and equipment technology adoption rather than innovation adoption in general. In addition, this paper considers both sides of the adoption equation (vendor and customer), which is in contrast to previous binary studies which considered one side or the other. It delineates the boundaries of different concepts such as diffusion, adoption, acceptance and implementation, which have been interchangeably used in previous studies. This paper introduces the concept of dissemination to construction, which has previously been investigated in other industries.


SPE Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 515-528
Author(s):  
Ruby Roberts ◽  
Rhona Flin

Summary To maximize the opportunities for the adoption of newly developed products, there is a need to better understand how psychological factors have an impact on the acceptance and deployment of innovative technology in industry. While there is extensive general literature on the psychological factors that influence consumer behavior and the use of new technologies, there seemed to be very limited understanding of this topic, specifically relating to the upstream energy sector. A literature review was conducted to (1) identify what, if any, research has been conducted in relation to the psychological factors influencing technology adoption and deployment in the oil and gas (O&G) industry and (2) identify what interventions have been developed to support technology adoption in O&G. A literature search was undertaken, and given the limited research anticipated, minimum selection criteria were applied on the basis of Cochrane quality control (Higgins and Green 2011). In the 17 articles that met the search criteria, there was limited discussion of the psychological factors that have an impact on O&G technology adoption. The articles were subject to Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis, producing a list of psychological factors that influence technology adoption in O&G. Only five psychological factors were identified: personality (e.g., exploration traits and risk aversion), attitude (e.g., trust and not-invented-here syndrome), social (e.g., social norms), cognition (e.g., risk perception), and psychological factors at an organizational level (leadership and organizational culture). In addition, our review identified a small number of interventions that were developed and deployed to support technology adoption in O&G. Given the early stages of this research area, combined with the relevance for technology innovation in upstream O&G, our review adds to the literature by identifying an initial framework of the key psychological factors. This essential set of factors can be used to direct future research, as well as to support effective interventions aimed at supporting the introduction of new technology.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
P. Suzanne Sharp

Small, private, primarily undergraduate colleges and universities have been facing challenges in enrollment as number of traditional-aged college students declines and options for obtaining a degree expand. In response, schools often seek out and adopt new technology to improve their student recruitment functions. Existing research largely focuses on the technical aspects of adoption but does not provide much insight into the process of leading change itself. The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of higher education leaders in championing change through adoption of new technology for student recruitment. I interviewed 12 enrollment management leaders in higher education about their experiences guiding the technology adoption process on their campus. All participants were at small, private, primarily undergraduate institutions. This qualitative case study focused on the common phenomenon experienced by the participants -- being the champion for selecting and purchasing new technology. Early stages of change management (Kotter, 2012) served as the framework for my research. In addition, I relied on a secondary framework, Bolman and Deal's (2008) political frame, to provide further insight about the participants' experiences. Four themes emerged from the findings: identifying problems, impetus for change, involving others, and influence. This study concludes that managing change itself is a significant aspect of the process. Based on the findings I offer recommendations for practice and identify opportunities for further research.


Author(s):  
Ji Yoon Kim ◽  
Xina Yuan ◽  
Sang Yong Kim ◽  
Young Joo Lee

This study attempts to explore the role of consumer's perception of quality within the new technology adoption process which is given little attention in the field of Information systems. In this regard, the authors developed an exploratory conceptual model in the level of consumer perception by exploring the antecedent of perceived quality. Three factors are introduced as determinants of perceived quality: perceived usefulness, perceived risk and trialability. Moreover, the authors investigate cross national differences among three countries including China, Korea and Japan by estimating our proposed model. An empirical study is conducted with analysis of the adoption mechanism for a new innovative product. Data analysis results support the authors proposed hypotheses, and significant differences are found among the three countries in regards to the new technology adoption process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 877-897
Author(s):  
Federico Caviggioli ◽  
Lucio Lamberti ◽  
Paolo Landoni ◽  
Paolo Meola

Purpose Evidence from previous literature indicates that adopting a new innovative technology has a positive impact on a company’s business performance. Much less work has been carried out into examining whether a technology adoption has impact on corporate reputation. This paper aims to examine the latter topic in a context where social media is the channel used to share news about the introduction of a new technology. The empirical setting of the study consists of five retail companies located in the USA that decided to include Bitcoin as a payment platform. Design/methodology/approach Twitter data were used to measure how sharing news about the adoption of new technology could affect the reputation of the companies selected, keeping a clear distinction between the volume of data relating to social media responses and the sentiment expressed in the tweets. A panel vector autoregression model was used to incorporate series of data relating to news items, volume and sentiment. Findings The results show that the news about the adoption of a new technology has a positive impact on both the volume of tech-related tweets and the sentiment expressed in the tweets themselves, although the patterns of these two effects are different. The resulting impact decreases after a few days, both in volume and in sentiment. Research limitations/implications The analysis has limitations that future research could address by extending and diversifying the examined companies and the social media used as data sources. The research suggests that managers in medium-sized companies can leverage on the introduction of new technologies that have a direct impact on their customers and gain reputational benefits in terms of immediate visibility. Originality/value The research introduces an additional dimension of analysis to the current stream of corporate reputation. Although the literature has already covered the dynamics of response to events on Twitter, by focusing on the adoption of the new Bitcoin technology, the paper provides novel insights.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Yoon Kim ◽  
Xina Yuan ◽  
Sang Yong Kim ◽  
Young Joo Lee

This study attempts to explore the role of consumer's perception of quality within the new technology adoption process which is given little attention in the field of Information systems. In this regard, the authors developed an exploratory conceptual model in the level of consumer perception by exploring the antecedent of perceived quality. Three factors are introduced as determinants of perceived quality: perceived usefulness, perceived risk and trialability. Moreover, the authors investigate cross national differences among three countries including China, Korea and Japan by estimating our proposed model. An empirical study is conducted with analysis of the adoption mechanism for a new innovative product. Data analysis results support the authors proposed hypotheses, and significant differences are found among the three countries in regards to the new technology adoption process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
John W. Magugu ◽  
Song Feng ◽  
Qiuqiong Huang ◽  
Gilbert O Ototo

AbstractAgro-forestry (AFR) technologies are perceived to improve livelihoods and natural resource sustainability of the rural households. Despite their aggressive promotion by multiple national and international agencies, the adoption of AFR technologies has been minimal in Kenya. This study conducted a survey to examine the socio-economic factors that affect the adoption process in Nyando, Kenya. Results revealed that farmers with bigger farms and higher education were more likely to adopt the new technology. Additionally, farmers were quicker to adopt technology if they had an increase in crop yields and had stayed longer in the study area. Generally, wealthier famers tended to adopt more AFR technology than those with less income. Access to information was the only factor strongly correlated with the rest of the independent variables. The results suggest that, adoption would be more enhanced with a clear focus on extension activities, income enhancing AFR practices and soil amelioration technologies. This study may be replicated in other parts of Kenya and East Africa to improve the level of AFR technology adoption for sustainable rural development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2655-2681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuma Nnaji ◽  
John Gambatese ◽  
Ali Karakhan ◽  
Chinweike Eseonu

Purpose Existing literature suggests that construction worker safety could be optimized using emerging technologies. However, the application of safety technologies in the construction industry is limited. One reason for the constrained adoption of safety technologies is the lack of empirical information for mitigating the risk of a failed adoption. The purpose of this paper is to fill the research gap through identifying key factors that predict successful adoption of safety technologies. Design/methodology/approach In total, 26 key technology adoption predictors were identified and classified using a combination of literature review and an expert panel. The level of influence for each identified safety technology adoption predictor was assessed and ranked using the Relative Importance Index. Analysis of variance was performed as well to assess the potential difference in perceived level of importance for the predictors when the study participants were clustered according to work experience and company size. Findings Statistical analysis indicates that 12 out of the 26 predictors identified are highly influential regarding technology adoption decision-making in construction. Technology reliability, effectiveness and durability were ranked as the most influential predictors. The participants who work for small companies and who had less than ten years of experience rated individual- and technology-related predictors significantly lower than the experienced participants working for medium and large companies. Practical implications The present study provides construction researchers and practitioners with valuable information regarding safety technology predictors and their magnitude, both of which are essential elements of a successful safety technology adoption process. Improved technology adoption can enhance workplace safety and minimize worker injuries, providing substantial benefits to the construction industry. Originality/value This study contributes to technology adoption knowledge by identifying and quantifying the influential predictors of safety technologies in relation to different organizational contexts. The study informs the need to develop an integrated conceptual model for safety technology adoption.


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