Exploration of latent barriers inhibiting project management processes in adopting smart building technologies (SBTs) in the developing countries
ISSN: 1471-4175
Article publication date: 29 March 2021
Issue publication date: 21 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
While smart building technologies (SBTs) implementation ensures sustainability, their adoption is hampered by latent barriers, especially in project management processes. These latent barriers must be addressed to facilitate the successful and widespread adoption of SBTs. Therefore, this study aims to explore the significant latent barriers inhibiting the project management processes in adopting SBTs in developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
A positivist research philosophy couched within a deductive approach was adopted to undertake a quantitative questionnaire survey of 227 project management and design team participants. Descriptive and inferential analytical tools (including a one sample T-test and exploratory factor analysis) were then adopted to interpret data collected.
Findings
The results reveal that the “high cost of smart sustainable materials and equipment” is the major significant barrier hindering the adoption of SBTs in developing countries. Latent barriers were: “structure and time-related barriers,” “construction-related barriers” and “human, policy and cost-related barriers”.
Originality/value
The study contributes novel insights into the prevailing nascent discourse on SBTs from the perspectives of construction project managers and design teams in developing countries, particularly. Furthermore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that ascertains the significant barriers inhibiting project management processes in adopting SBTs in developing countries.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a large MPhil research project aimed at Developing Technology Adoption Framework for Smart Building Technologies in Ghana. The authors would like to thank the Department of Construction Technology and Management of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for organizing research seminars to help improve the research project. Finally, the authors are extremely grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers whose invaluable comments and suggestions substantially helped in improving the quality of this paper.
Citation
Ghansah, F.A., Owusu-Manu, D.-G., Ayarkwa, J., Edwards, D.J. and Hosseini, M.R. (2021), "Exploration of latent barriers inhibiting project management processes in adopting smart building technologies (SBTs) in the developing countries", Construction Innovation, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 685-707. https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-07-2020-0116
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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