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This paper aims to identify and provide a theoretical explanation for the barriers that hinder the adoption of emerging technologies in the architecture, engineering and construction industry, irrespective of the company’s size, specialization or geographical location. In addition, the paper proposes potential areas for future research in this domain.

A list of barriers hindering the adoption of emerging technologies was identified and clarified using a systematic literature review of various scientific sources.

Twenty-five barriers were recognized and explained and some suggestions for future research studies were provided.

The barriers related to a specific country or region or to a specific technology were excluded.

By providing a deeper comprehension of the barriers hindering the adoption of emerging technologies, this review is expected to encourage their adoption in the industry. Furthermore, it could prove valuable in devising effective strategies for the successful implementation of these technologies.

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the barriers associated with the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in agricultural supply chains.

The study initially identified thirteen barriers by conducting a literature review and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Subsequently, these barriers were validated and modeled using an integrated Fuzzy Delphi-ISM approach. Finally, MICMAC analysis was employed to categorize the barriers into distinct clusters.

The results provide considerable insights into the hierarchical structure and complex interrelationships between the barriers as well the driving and dependence power of barriers. Lack of information about technologies and lack of compatibility with traditional methods emerged as the two main barriers which directly and indirectly influence the other ones.

The robust hybrid Fuzzy Delphi and ISM techniques used in this study can serve as a useful model and benchmark for similar studies probing the barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption. From a theoretical standpoint, this study expands the scope of institutional theory in explaining Industry 4.0 adoption barriers.

The study is timely for the post-COVID-19 recovery and growth of the agricultural sector. The findings are helpful for policymakers and agriculture supply chain stakeholders in devising new strategies and policy interventions to prioritize and address Industry 4.0 adoption barriers.

It is the first comprehensive, multi-country and multi-method empirical study to comprehensively identify and model barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption in agricultural supply chains in emerging economies.

This article aims at - exploring and prioritizing the barriers to adoption of digitization in supply chains (SCs), categorizing them into sustainability triple bottom line (STBL) based upon their direct impact and suggesting digital technologies to address each barrier.

A five-phase methodology is used which consists of an exploration of 44 barriers to the adoption of digitization in SCs, analysis of 44 barriers for mean, standard deviation and Cronbach alpha based on questionnaire-based feedback of 25 experts, extraction of 10 most significant barriers through 05 experts, followed by categorization of the barriers into STBL referring to their direct impact on STBL, prioritization of ten barriers using Fuzzy Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution and recommendation of digital technologies to address each barrier.

While all the barriers considered in this study significantly impede the adoption of digitization in SCs, lack of top management commitment (B1) is found to be most crucial while lack of culture toward use of information and communication technology required for digitization (B3) has minimum impact. Large investment in digital infrastructure (B6), difficulty in integration of cyber physical systems (CPSs) on varied platforms (B8) and lack of experts having knowledge of digital technologies (B2) are equally important barriers requiring more attention while adopting digitization in SCs.

This study is mainly based on feedback from 25 seasoned experts; a wider cross section of experts will give more insight.

The outcomes are very significant for organizations looking to adopt digitization in their SCs. Simultaneous consideration to all the barriers becomes impractical hence prioritization of same will be useful for the SC managers to benchmark their preparedness and decide strategies for the adoption of digitization with due consideration toward the impact of barriers on STBL. The digital technologies recommended will further aid in planning the digital strategies to address each barrier.

A unique approach to explore, analyze, prioritize and categorize the barriers to adoption of digitization in SCs is used to provide a deeper understanding of factors deterring the same. It implies that a supportive top management along with systematic allocation of finances plays a crucial role. The importance of availability of digital experts for integrating CPSs on a single platform is also highlighted. The digital technologies recommended will further assist the organizations toward adoption of digitization in SCs with due consideration to STBL.

With growing concern about sustainable development and increased awareness of environmental issues, digital technologies (DTs) are gaining prominence and becoming a promising trend to improve productivity, sustainability and project performance in the construction industry. Nonetheless, the uptake of DTs in the construction industry has been limited and plagued with roadblocks. This study aims to identify critical barriers for construction organisations to adopt DTs and to demonstrate relationships between organisational characteristics and the perceived DTs adoption barriers.

This study adopted an explanatory sequential design by combining the advantages of quantitative and qualitative data. Data collection methods include literature review, a pilot study, questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews. Questionnaire data were analysed by using SPSS and multivariate regression technique. The interview data were processed by using content analysis to validate and supplement findings from the questionnaire.

Based on the survey and interview results, eight critical barriers were identified: the three top critical barriers are (1) “status quo industry standards”, (2) “lack of client interest” and (3) “lack of financial need/drive for using DTs”. The eight critical barriers were further classified into technical, environmental, and social dimensions to determine the major constructs that hinder DTs adoption. A theoretical framework articulating critical barriers with underlying components and root causes was also proposed. Furthermore, by using multivariate regression analysis, a model was developed to link the organisational characteristics with barriers to DTs adoption.

By referring to the framework and the model developed, academics, industry practitioners, and decision makers can identify pivotal areas for improvement, make informed decisions and implement remedial measures to remove the barriers to digitalisation transformation.

This study contributes to the literature on construction innovations by investigating barriers to DTs adoption holistically as well as perceptions of the impact of organisational attributes on these barriers. It establishes the groundwork for future empirical research into the strategic consolidation of movement of DTs adoption and diffusion.

This research aims to evaluate the impact of barriers experienced by Brazilian companies in adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0).

As a methodological approach, the survey method was used, adopting the use of the questionnaire for data collection. From the feedback of 99 companies (with an index of 80%), quantitative analyzes of the data were carried out with the aid of factor analysis and linear regression to validate the proposed structural model.

The barriers construct does not impact the I4.0 adoption construct. Directly evaluating the effect of the variables that make up the barriers construct in the I4.0 adoption construct, it was observed that three barriers affect effectively the adoption of I4.0: technological infrastructure; financial constraint and lack of understanding of the benefits of I4.0.

As a limitation, the research was conducted only in the Brazilian context, requiring the development of future studies in other countries that can strengthen the findings of this research.

In addition, the results achieved provide relevant insights into public policymakers and business managers, helping them to deeply understand the barriers that impact the adoption of I4.0. This facilitates the propagation of I4.0 concepts in the context of Brazilian companies and in the formulation of public policies adapted to each sector, allowing a more assertive action in the face of the types of barriers experienced by organizations during the adoption of I4.0.

The findings can help practitioners and policymakers to understand in detail this new industrial model and the difficulties that prevent its implementation.

From an extensive literature review, no studies were identified that statistically validate which barriers effectively affect the adoption of I4.0. This research is a pioneer in proposing a structural model to analyze the barriers experienced by workers during the adoption of I4.0, exploring Brazilian companies, from different economic sectors and sizes. It is noteworthy that the literature still focuses efforts on manufacturing companies.

In an attempt to attain a better understanding of the research work on building information modeling (BIM) adoption, this study aims to examine the criticality of BIM adoption barriers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) developing countries from the lens of the sociotechnical theory. Further, the study investigates the differences in the perceptions of various constructions players (owners, contractors and designers) to BIM barriers, as well as possible discrepancies in the perception of BIM users and non-BIM users to the significance of the perceived constraints.

To reach this aim, the study starts with a systematic evaluation and a critical review of the literature on BIM barriers. A set of 22 BIM adoption limitations was drawn from the literature which was used to design the survey. To capture a broad perception, a mixed approach was used, and data were collected through an interview study and a survey involving Architecture, Engineering and Construction professionals in the MENA construction sector. The collected data were analyzed using the mean score, standard deviation and nonparametric tests. The further principal component analysis (PCA) grouped the barriers to uncover the latent factors of BIM barriers.

The actors ranked the barriers as follows: lack of knowledge and BIM awareness, commercial issues and investment cost, lack of skills and BIM specialist, interoperability and lack of client demand. The examination of the PCA resulted in four underlying BIM limitation factors namely: human, technological, structural and financial. The analysis of the ranking indicated that 16 of the 22 barriers are considered critical in the MENA area. The results of the Mann–Whitney test indicated that there is a statistically significant difference in perceptions of BIM users and nonuser for seven barriers, pointing out that users care most about the financial barriers; however, nonusers are mostly concerned with structural and technological barriers. However, the results of the Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that there is no statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the three categories of stakeholders in ranking all BIM barriers.

The outcomes will back policymakers and construction participants with the knowledge to develop policy propositions that can positively affect BIM adoption in the construction industry. The significance of this study lies in being one of the very first explorative investigations that comparatively and empirically explored BIM adoption barriers across the whole MENA developing countries.

While several research studies have examined BIM adoption barriers in various countries, none to the best of the authors' knowledge have attempted to study the whole MENA region as one entity, and none highlighted the impact of user's roles on their perception of adoption barriers within their community. The results contribute to the discussion of the relationship among practitioners' level of involvement in BIM projects and their perception of adoption barriers which is underrepresented in extant studies. The above can assist with prioritizing the barriers that are considered to be more significant given the characteristics of the community under study. The result revealed the value of the structural and human attributes in prioritizing BIM adoption barriers within the MENA construction industry.

To develop a basic model of e‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses located in regional areas of developed countries.

An empirical survey of 477 small businesses in Sweden and Australia about e‐commerce adoption and implementation. The data was analysed using correlation matrices and factor analysis to derive a model of e‐commerce barriers.

E‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses in regional areas in both Sweden and Australia can be grouped according to two distinct factors: e‐commerce is either “too difficult” or “unsuitable” for the business. The model derived is based on these factors.

Limitations – inability to derive industry specific conclusions; standard limitations associated with mailed survey instruments; further qualitative research is necessary. Research implications – “first of its kind” model of e‐commerce adoption barriers to small businesses located in regional areas; consolidated understanding of e‐commerce adoption barriers.

Significant implications for government organizations engaged in promoting e‐commerce adoption in small businesses. This research indicates where and how adoption initiatives should be targeted.

This research fills a gap in our knowledge about e‐commerce adoption barriers and overcomes some of the fragmentation associated with e‐commerce adoption in small businesses.

Building information modeling (BIM) is a process of creating an intelligent virtual model integrating project data from design to construction and operation. BIM models enhance the process of communicating the progress of construction to stakeholders and facilitate integrated project delivery, coordination and clash detection. However, barriers within the construction industry in Ethiopia has led to slow BIM adoption in the country. The aim of this paper is to identify perceived BIM barriers, provide a platform to quantify their importance and develop a regression model to link individual's personal/professional attributes to their perception of BIM barrier.

To address the objectives of this research, an online survey was developed to collect feedback from construction professionals in Ethiopia on 20 major adoption barriers extracted from a thorough review of literature. Relative importance index and strength of consensus metric were employed to identify the significance of barriers. This was then succeeded by performing exploratory factor analysis to determine the major constructs of BIM barriers which was then used to develop a multivariate regression model linking respondents' personal attributes to their perception of BIM barrier.

Results revealed the importance of project complexity and BIM maturity level in prioritizing barriers that are more relevant under various contexts. More specifically, results indicated the following study highlights: Project complexity led to higher perceived weights for lack of appropriate physical/cloud infrastructures, and a BIM standard. Higher levels of BIM maturity signified the importance of BIM internal issues such as liability, licensing and maintenance issues among other adoption barriers. Female participants tended not to consider intangibility of BIM benefits as a major barrier towards BIM adoption compared to male participants. Age of the participants turned out to be the least important factor in their prioritization of BIM perceived adoption barriers.

While many research studies have explored BIM adoption barriers in various countries around the world, none to the best of the authors' knowledge have attempted to develop a model to highlight the impact of individuals' personal/professional attributes on their perception of adoption barriers within their community which can help with prioritizing the barriers that are deemed to be more important given the characteristics of the community under study. Our result indicated the importance of BIM maturity level and project complexity in prioritizing barriers associated with BIM adoption within Ethiopia's construction industry.

Recently, disruptive technologies (DTs) have proposed several innovative applications in managing logistics and promise to transform the entire logistics sector drastically. Often, this transformation is not successful due to the existence of adoption barriers to DTs. This study aims to identify the significant barriers that impede the successful adoption of DTs in the logistics sector and examine the interrelationships amongst them.

Initially, 12 critical barriers were identified through an extensive literature review on disruptive logistics management, and the barriers were screened to ten relevant barriers with the help of Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). Further, an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach was built with the inputs from logistics experts working in the various departments of warehouses, inventory control, transportation, freight management and customer service management. ISM approach was then used to generate and examine the interrelationships amongst the critical barriers. Matrics d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Applique a Classement (MICMAC) analysed the barriers based on the barriers' driving and dependence power.

Results from the ISM-based technique reveal that the lack of top management support (B6) was a critical barrier that can influence the adoption of DTs. Other significant barriers, such as legal and regulatory frameworks (B1), infrastructure (B3) and resistance to change (B2), were identified as the driving barriers, and industries need to pay more attention to them for the successful adoption of DTs in logistics. The MICMAC analysis shows that the legal and regulatory framework and lack of top management support have the highest driving powers. In contrast, lack of trust, reliability and privacy/security emerge as barriers with high dependence powers.

The authors' study has several implications in the light of DT substitution. First, this study successfully analyses the seven DTs using Adner and Kapoor's framework (2016a, b) and the Theory of Disruptive Innovation (Christensen, 1997; Christensen et al., 2011) based on the two parameters as follows: emergence challenge of new technology and extension opportunity of old technology. Second, this study categorises these seven DTs into four quadrants from the framework. Third, this study proposes the recommended paths that DTs might want to follow to be adopted quickly.

The authors' study has several managerial implications in light of the adoption of DTs. First, the authors' study identified no autonomous barriers to adopting DTs. Second, other barriers belonging to any lower level of the ISM model can influence the dependent barriers. Third, the linkage barriers are unstable, and any preventive action involving linkage barriers would subsequently affect linkage barriers and other barriers. Fourth, the independent barriers have high influencing powers over other barriers.

The contributions of this study are four-fold. First, the study identifies the different DTs in the logistics sector. Second, the study applies the theory of disruptive innovations and the ecosystems framework to rationalise the choice of these seven DTs. Third, the study identifies and critically assesses the barriers to the successful adoption of these DTs through a strategic evaluation procedure with the help of a framework built with inputs from logistics experts. Fourth, the study recognises DTs adoption barriers in logistics management and provides a foundation for future research to eliminate those barriers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers that are constituting significant obstructions to preliminary and sustained BIM adoption in the South African construction industry.

Implementation Process Theory was used to develop the theoretical model of barriers to continuous and consistent BIM adoption. This enabled the formulation of two hypotheses, the identification of two sub-constructs (barriers to preliminary BIM adoption and barriers to sustained BIM adoption), and five variables (resources, knowledge, work process, organisational and planning barriers), which were validated using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The SEM results show pieces of evidence that validate the hypotheses in the theoretical model. The path analysis confirms that the two sub-constructs and five variables are statistically significant.

This research extends the postulations on the barriers to BIM adoption by demonstrating that organisational challenges and planning difficulties constitute barriers to sustained BIM adoption in the South African construction industry.

The findings of this research are useful in understanding the planning scope and organisational requirements towards continuous and consistent BIM adoption in the South African construction industry.

The difficulties with BIM adoption are the issues with the performance of BIM on projects and are the major reason for the non-consistent adoption of BIM on projects. Having difficulties adopting BIM on projects suggests that BIM adoption is majorly on a preliminary or trial basis in the developing countries. This research tests this theory by proposing two types of BIM adoption and their associated barriers.