Systemic BIM Adoption: A Multilevel Perspective

Abstract

Systemic innovations require multiple interdependent actors to change their practices simultaneously in order to realise the benefits of the innovation. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been classified as a systemic innovation that is adopted by building projects, firms, and users. However, the slow diffusion of BIM in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector has maintained the gap between BIM visions and actual BIM practice. Some governments are planning to enact policies to promote BIM adoption in construction. However, in some countries, BIM adoption has already started with large construction organisations (i.e., the middle-out diffusion approach). To learn from previous experience and before enacting top-down interventions, policymakers require a model to stimulate systemic BIM adoption for entire supply chains with fragmented project and organisational structures. The current paper investigates systemic adoption of digital innovations in construction and is aimed at formulating a model of systemic BIM adoption (MSBA). Three primary datasets consisting of 133 BIM users, 30 chief executive officers, and 20 project managers were collected in Peru and collectively analysed using cross-classified multilevel modelling (CCMM). It was found that MSBA has five user-, three firm-, and two project-level factors, explaining 28%, 75% and 50% of variance in users' BIM adoption respectively. The proposed model would provide useful guidance for corporate decisionmakers and government policymakers to develop BIM-diffusion policies to accelerate adoption. It would also provide a useful practical implementation framework as the industry progresses towards a digital mode of working and could underpin further digitalisation of the sector worldwide.

Motivating immersive BIM uptake through user attitude: analysis of initial solution using design science approach

“…Recent studies by Charlton et al. (2020) and Murguia et al. (2021) support the relevance of this premise, although their epistemological beliefs are similar to the premise they criticised.…”

“…Thus, it is apt to ask: what variables are relevant practically to explain the difficulties associated with executive choice to accept or reject BIM? Questions similar to this had been asked by Charlton et al (2020) and Murguia et al (2021). Because of the ill-structured nature, there are significant methodological challenges that associate with the assessment of acceptance of technological innovations, including the need for an innovative scale to assess user attitude (Shen et al, 2020;Ratchford and Ratchford, 2021).…”

“…Further, technology uptake remains underexplored in many sectors due to over-reliance on measurement of software use (Shen et al, 2020). BIM literature is no exception to this (Murguia et al, 2021). Since there are diverse mechanisms that executives may rely upon to interpret ambiguous decision attributes, a particular BIM acceptance model could be either realistic or unrealistic.…”

“…Closed-ended surveys are popular in FRA research; a method that has limited capacity to elicit executives' distinctive BIM inspirations (Ma et al. , 2019; Murguia et al. , 2021; Nysveen et al.…”

Evaluation of Complexity Issues in Building Information Modeling Diffusion Research

“…Secondly, based on the discussion of the complexity of BIM adoption, it is suggested that future studies investigate BIM post-adoption behaviors and analyze the environmental context's impact on BIM adoption, such as from the perspectives of policies, markets, organizations, emergencies, etc. The behaviors should be studied in a systemic manner, including both acceptance and resistance at the firm, project, and user levels [73]. Considering the interdependent and evolutionary nature of the behaviors, cross-cultural, cross-national, and longitudinal research should also be conducted [64].…”