Modeling the Critical Success Factors for BIM Implementation in Developing Countries: Sampling the Turkish AEC Industry

Abstract

One of the latest advancements transforming the global architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is building information modeling (BIM). Although BIM implementation is at high level in developed countries, it is at a lower level in developing countries. BIM is new to the construction industry in Turkey, with only minor construction firms having implemented it. When making projections based on the current state of the Turkish AEC industry, it is foreseen that it will become mandatory in the near future. Considering this projection, it is doubtful that many construction companies will be caught unprepared for this situation and will not know how to implement BIM. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and model the critical success factors for BIM implementation and their impact size in order to gain insight for the fast and efficient implementation of BIM among construction firms in the Turkish AEC industry, which can be generalized for most developing countries. To reach these aims, a questionnaire was designed with 41 identified success criteria (SC) that were derived through a systematic literature review (SLR). The survey was conducted on construction professionals who actively implement BIM technology at their occupied firms in Turkey and they were asked to rank the importance of 41 SC on a five-point Likert scale. The sampling frame consisted of architects and civil engineers, and in total, 243 responses were received. The differentiation between SC and critical success criteria (CSC) was obtained by using a normalized mean cutoff value. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to identify the critical success factors (CSFs), and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the underlying size effects of each CSF on BIM implementation in the Turkish AEC industry. The results of this study reveal 20 CSC for successful BIM implementation, and EFA exhibited three CSFs from 20 CSC. Three critical success factors for BIM implementation in the Turkish construction industry were determined and grouped into two categories. “Awareness of technological benefits” and “organizational readiness and competitive advantages” formed one group and are the most influential critical success factors for BIM implementation. “Motivation of management regarding BIM” formed the second group of critical success factors that have a significant effect.

Digitization of AEC Industries Based on BIM and 4.0 Technologies

“…In the context of these observations, the conclusions drawn from the article are as follows: BIM has the potential to transform the AEC industries, bringing benefits to both investors and contractors. However, to fully utilize them, further training and education in BIM are necessary, as well as the introduction of appropriate legal regulations and the implementation of BIM procedures in construction companies [73]. It is worth mentioning that to fully and correctly implement this methodology and benefit from it, one should strictly base it on the standards from the ISO 19650 series [74].…”

BIM critical factors and benefits for public sector

“…Although it has multifaceted advantages such as simplicity and flexibility (da Cruz et al, 2022), the AHP can only consider a limited number of criteria and alternatives (Tan et al, 2022). The AHP has relatively stringent requirements for independence among criteria, and its results are heavily conditioned on pairwise comparisons (Jalilzadehazhari et al, 2019).…”

“…Although BIM methodology is a well-covered research topic, several studies have been conducted from different perspectives, highlighting the benefits of BIM implementation by some authors (Tan et al, 2022), where productivity and efficiency improvement are emphasized. Another view of these works relates to adopting CSFs for different BIM perspectives (Al-Ashmori et al, 2022).…”

Optimized Integration of Lean Construction, Building Information Modeling, and Facilities Management in Developing Countries: A Case of Qatar

“…In the published literature, the integration of LC, BIM, and FM has been realized in various domains depending on contextual, organizational, and cross-organizational factors. It has been observed that integrated applications of LC, BIM, and FM include a variety of combinations of LC, BIM, and FM [86][87][88][89]. Variants in the implementation include BIM-enabled FM, i.e., BIM-FM, LC, and FM, i.e., LC-FM, and integrated applications of LC, BIM, and FM, i.e., LC-BIM-FM [48,71,72,76].…”

“…In addition, many organizations and national economies have reported benefits associated with integrating LC, BIM, and FM [62][63][64]. These integrated applications include an assorted variety of combinations of LC, BIM, and FM [48,[62][63][64]71,72,76,[86][87][88][89], albeit a prominent challenge in developing countries is how to identify the right combinations for integrating LC, BIM, and FM. Since FM and LC can be regarded as tools used during the implementation of a constructed facility, BIM can be used to capture data and information relevant to FM and LC throughout the life cycle of a construction project, for example, a large building.…”