Key Factors Affecting Construction Organizations' Acceptance of BIM: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Governments and clients expect contractors to utilise BIM for construction and maintenance purposes at higher level of details. However, the process of BIM implementation is not as quick as it was expected and looks some contractors have not used BIM at all, or do not use it for some of projects. This justifies an urgent study on the process of BIM adoption to identify drivers and key factors influencing the contractorsäó» decision. Many studies focus on exploring BIM advances, its applications and individual matters of BIM acceptance. However, less effort has been made to investigate the impacts of organizationsäó» intention considering BIM performance value and their support for BIM implementation. Therefore, this study aims to identify factors that affect the BIM adoption process at the organization level regarding perceived needs, organizational support and ease of operation. Quantitative and qualitative information are collected through survey and face-to-face interview in Chinese and Australian construction organizations. Structural equation modelling analysis is used to quantify the relationships between influential factors and organizationäó»s intention towards BIM utilization. Analysis results indicate that äóÖBIM Awarenessäó», äóÖPerceived Needsäó», äóÖOrganizational Supportäó», and äóÖDown Timeäó» are four critical factors influencing BIM acceptance in Chinese and Australian construction organizations. Moreover, this study provides an insight of BIM adoption challenges in Chinese and Australian construction industries.