Facilitating Digital Transformation in Construction—A Systematic Review of the Current State of the Art

Abstract

There is increasing implementation of digital technologies in construction. However, the transformation effects encompassing digital technology implementation are yet to be fully comprehended within the context of construction. Therefore, this study was aimed to provide a holistic understanding of digital transformation in construction. The study drew on extant literature by studying 36 journal publications published between 2016 when digital transformation emerged in construction from the information systems field and 2020. This led to the development of an inductive framework using a grounded theory methodology (GTM) to highlight digital transformation in construction as a process where the implementation of digital technologies creates transformation effects that trigger strategic considerations for putting in place the enablers that facilitate transformation effects and for suppressing the barriers to it. Building on the framework, this study described and presented the strategic considerations for facilitating specific enablers and those for suppressing specific barriers as digital transformation guideline in construction. This study demonstrated how the implementation of digital technologies has increased the understanding of and provided the basis for digital transformation in construction.

Digital Transformation and Organizational Learning: Situated Perspectives on Becoming Digital in Architectural Design Practice

“…REMOVED FOR PEER REVIEW. While the AEC industry is engaging with processes of digitalization, such as the use of federated 3D building information models (BIM), this evidences a new norm as opposed to radical business innovation and transformation (Olanipekun and Sutrisna, 2021). In general, the ".…”

“…This recognizes that while digital technologies can be leveraged to catalyze change in organizations, sustained transformation occurs when those processes interconnect across social and technical domains. From this perspective, successful approaches to DT are those that engage a multipronged approach to the introduction of change that encompasses and connects business processes, workplace cultures, and work systems (Bonanomi et al, 2020;Olanipekun and Sutrisna, 2021).…”

Implementation of Digital Technologies in Construction Companies: Establishing a Holistic Process which Addresses Current Barriers

“…In the construction industry, digital tools are in fact available for various applications along the building life cycle and value chain today [1]. The diversity of the construction industry offers a variety of digital tools for various applications in all phases of the life cycle and during the construction of structures and buildings and aims to improve economic or environmental benefits [2,3]. However, when comparing different industries in terms of the progress of digitalization, the construction industry is ranked comparatively low, as for example the digitalization index of Telekom [4] or a survey by McKinsey [5] demonstrates.…”

“…When planning to integrate (new) digital technologies, it is essential that possible barriers are known so that the introduction can take place as efficiently and successfully as possible [2,6]. Currently, there is a lack of standardized processes that could be used for the introduction of digital technologies.…”

Conceptualising a Framework for Construction Sector Capacity

“…However, lessons learned so far indicate that the construction sector is facing several major issues. It has generally been considered a traditional sector with low productivity (Ma and Liu, 2016;Ghodrati, et al, 2018;Hasan, et al, 2018;Xiong, Newton and Skitmore, 2019), especially the lowest productivity gains over the last decades (Deloitte, 2019), high staff turnover (Ayodele, Chang-Richards and González, 2020), skills shortages (Chang-Richards, et al, 2017;Kim, Chang and Castro-Lacouture, 2020), loss and lack of collaboration among partners (Deep, Gajendran and Jefferies, 2019), and slow adoption of digital technologies and innovation (Chancellor, Abbott and Carson, 2015;Delgado, et al, 2019;Olanipekun and Sutrisna, 2021). The construction sector is also susceptible to economic fluctuations (Ercan, 2019).…”