BIM adoption within Australian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs): an innovation diffusion model

M Reza Hosseini,Saeed Banihashemi,Mehran Oraee Namzadi,Chika Udaeja,Tammy Mccuen,Nicholas Chileshe,Raufdeen Rameezdeen

doi:10.5130/ajceb.v16i3.5159

Abstract

Despite the envisaged benefits of BIM adoption for SMEs, BIM in SMEs has remained an underrepresented area within the available academic literature. This study proposes and draws upon a framework grounded on innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to provide an illuminating insight into the current state of BIM and the main barriers to BIM adoption within Australian SMEs. Based on analyses of 135 questionnaires completed by SMEs through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and grounded on the proposed framework, the current state of BIM adoption and barriers to BIM adoption for SMEs are discussed. The findings show that currently around 42% of Australian SMEs use BIM in Level 1 and Level 2 with only around 5% have tried Level 3. It comes to light that lack of knowledge within SMEs and across the construction supply chain is not a major barrier for Australian SMEs. In essence, the main barriers stem from the risks associated with an uncertain return on investment (ROI) for BIM as perceived by key players in SMEs. The findings also show the validity of the framework proposed for explaining BIM adoption in Australian SMEs.

Highlights

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has enjoyed a progressive emergence over the last ten years due to a wide range of benefits envisaged for implementing BIM methodology on construction projects (Cao et al, 2016)
4 questionaries came from companies active as suppliers of building materials, which were not deemed relevant to BIM adoption
This study reported the findings of a research project, which adopted a questionnaire survey targeting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) within the Australian construction industry

Summary

Introduction

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has enjoyed a progressive emergence over the last ten years due to a wide range of benefits envisaged for implementing BIM methodology on construction projects (Cao et al, 2016). SMEs are limited in maintaining their competitive edge due to a lack of incentives in taking advantage from sufficient human resources; an element that is the key asset in the construction context (Saridakis, Muñoz Torres and Johnstone, 2013) It is widely believed in construction literature that SMEs are typically lagging behind large-sized firms in embracing innovation and technological advancements (Acar et al, 2005; Bröchner and Lagerqvist, 2016; Shelton, Martek and Chen, 2016). This is the case for BIM (Forsythe, 2014; McGraw Hill, 2014; Poirier, Staub-French and Forgues, 2015a) due to a number of barriers as discussed

Results

Discussion

Conclusion