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Asset maintenance in manufacturing industries is a critical issue as organizations are highly sensitive towards maximizing asset uptime. In the advent of Industry 4.0, maintenance is increasingly becoming technology driven and is being termed as Maintenance 4.0. Several barriers impede the implementation of Maintenance 4.0. This article aims at - exploring the barriers to implementation of Maintenance 4.0 in manufacturing industries, categorizing them, analysing them to prioritize and suggesting the digital technologies to overcome them.

Twenty barriers to the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 were identified through literature survey and discussion with the industry experts. The identified barriers were divided into five categories based on their source of occurrence and prioritized using fuzzy-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), sensitivity analysis was carried out to check the robustness of the solution.

“Data security issues” has been ranked as the most influencing barrier towards the implementation of Maintenance 4.0, whereas “lack of skilled engineers and data scientists” is the least influencing barrier that impacts the implementation of Maintenance 4.0 in the manufacwturing industries.

The outcomes of this research will help manufacturing industries, maintenance engineers/managers, policymakers, and industry professionals for detailed understanding of barriers and identify easy pickings while implementing Maintenance 4.0.

Manufacturing industries are witnessing a paradigm shift due to digitization and maintenance 4.0 forms the cornerstone. Little research has been carried in Maintenance 4.0 and its implementation; this article will help in bridging the gap. The prioritization of the barriers and digital course of actions to overcome those is a unique contribution of this article.

Today, with the increasing involvement of the environment and human beings business units, paying attention to fulfilling social responsibility obligations while making a profit has become increasingly necessary for achieving sustainable development goals. Attention to profit by organizations should not be without regard to their social and environmental performance. Social responsibility accounting (SRA) is an approach that can pay more attention to the social and environmental performance of companies, but it has many barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify barriers to SRA implementation and provide strategies to overcome these barriers.

In this study, the authors identify barriers to social responsibility accounting implementation and provide strategies to overcome these barriers. By literature review, 12 barriers and seven strategies were identified and approved using the opinions of six academic experts. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) has been used to identify significant barriers and find textual relationships between them. The fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method has been used to identify and rank strategies for overcoming these barriers. This study was undertaken in Iran (an emerging market). The data has been gathered from 18 experts selected using purposive sampling and included CEOs of the organization, senior accountants and active researchers well familiar with the field of social responsibility accounting.

Based on the results of this study, the cultural differences barrier was introduced as the primary and underlying barrier of the social responsibility accounting barriers model. At the next level, barriers such as “lack of public awareness of the importance of social responsibility accounting, lack of social responsibility accounting implementation regulations and organization size” are significant barriers to social responsibility accounting implementation. Removing these barriers will help remove other barriers in this direction. In addition, the results of the TOPSIS method showed that “mandatory regulations, the introduction of guidelines and social responsibility accounting standards,” “regulatory developments and government incentive schemes to implement social responsibility accounting,” as well as “increasing public awareness of the benefits of social responsibility accounting” are some of the essential social responsibility accounting implementation strategies.

The findings of the study have implications for both professional accounting bodies for developing the necessary standards and for policymakers for adopting policies that facilitate the implementation of social responsibility accounting to achieve sustainability.

This paper creates a new perspective on the practical implementation of social responsibility accounting, closely related to improving environmental performance and increasing social welfare through improving sustainability.

Experts believe that the strategies mentioned above will be very effective and helpful in removing the barriers of the lower level of the model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, this study develops a model of social responsibility accounting barriers and ranks the most critical implementation strategies.

Some BIM implementation strategies are critical, while others are insignificant and ineffective in terms of lowering BIM adoption obstacles and promoting widespread acceptance of BIM in projects. The BIM literature has not provided evidence to support this claim or identify the fundamental BIM implementation strategies. This study filled this gap by identifying and investigating the effect of fundamental BIM implementation methodologies on the occurrence of proportional impacts between stages.

The findings indicate a positive and crucial relationship between the stages of the BIM implementation strategies and the reduction of barriers (r = 1.79, z = 2.15), preliminary and sustained BIM adoption barriers (r = 1.53, z = 60.83), BIM adoption on projects and BIM-enabled integration and collaboration (r = 0.7, z = 2.74). This validates the model's hypotheses and demonstrates that the fundamental BIM implementation strategies will accelerate the reduction of BIM adoption hurdles. The impact, however, will be the same for both sustained and preliminary barriers. This implies that lowering the obstacles alone will not secure BIM adoption.

The validation of the model's hypotheses demonstrated that the fundamental BIM implementation strategies will accelerate the reduction of BIM adoption hurdles. The impact, however, will be the same for both sustained and preliminary barriers. This implies that lowering BIM adoption obstacles alone will not secure BIM adoption. This study proposes that BIM deployment tactics be carefully chosen in order to remove preliminary impediments, reduce barriers and energise BIM acceptance.

In line with the findings of this study, BIM adoption must be consistent and long-term before the benefits in project execution become evident and substantiated. The BIM abilities of project participants, the feasibility of BIM conventions and the proficiency of BIM supervisors may all play a role in this.

This research implies a few approaches and tactics for implementing BIM in an efficient and beneficial manner. The study's findings imply that BIM deployment tactics should be carefully chosen in order to remove preliminary impediments, reduce barriers and energise BIM acceptance. It also explains how to structure BIM implementation strategies in developing countries. Another significant practical implication is the model's conclusion on the benefits of BIM adoption.

This study emphasises the significance of understanding the interrelatedness between the stages of the BIM implementation process in order to promote unavoidable and high-quality BIM adoption, as well as identifying the essential strategies that will guide policymakers and industry players in improving and pursuing successful BIM implementation. This study adds to BIM implementation theories by providing new information on the models, stages and interconnections of the BIM implementation process. However, the study could not identify the factors that impede BIM adoption despite the reduction in barriers and use of fundamental BIM implementation strategies.

Building information modelling (BIM) implementation in the design, construction and operations (DCO) industry is increasingly becoming essential. While BIM has been adopted on a larger scale in many developed economies, its acceptance is still in the embryonic phases for developing nations in the DCO industry. This study aims to identify the inhibitors to BIM implementation through the social network theoretical lens, intending to understand the associations among the barriers in the Indian context. Subsequently, recommend strategies to mitigate the barriers from the academic practitioner’s perspective.

A mixed methods research was adopted, commencing with comprehensive literature reviews to recognise various inhibitors to BIM implementation. These identified barriers were further examined through the questionnaire survey (n = 71). BIM implementation barrier network (BIBN) was created using University of California at Irvine Network (UCINET) is a powerful social network analysis software that functions on the principle of social network theory. The experts’ opinions were captured through the BIBN network through interviews. Network properties such as eigen vector centrality, betweenness centrality, degree centrality, in-degree and out-degree and clustering coefficient were computed, and the metrics were analysed further.

Twenty-six BIM implementation barriers were initially identified. A questionnaire survey was conducted. The chain reaction can be minimised by prioritising and regulating these barriers. The issues were categorised into fourfold clusters (standardisation, policy and process, cultural and human resources, change management and operational) issues were generated from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The obstacles and barriers resulting from the other main barriers associated with it can be minimised by reducing the challenges with high eigenvector centrality but low betweenness importance.

This study proves to accelerate sustainable BIM implementation growth in developing nations; this research study assists BIM stakeholders in developing coping mechanisms to monitor and remove BIM implementation barriers.

Analysing the associativity of the BIM implementation barriers through sociograms for developing nations is a novel concept with this research.

This study aims to identify critical barriers to design thinking (DT) implementation in healthcare and to determine hierarchical relationships among the barriers.

Through an extensive literature review and healthcare experts' opinions, 13 barriers to DT implementation in healthcare were identified. Data were collected using survey questionnaires, and an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) -MICMAC analysis was employed to produce a hierarchical model of identified barriers.

Results reveal the absence of standalone barriers, highlighting “Lack of Organizational autonomy” and “Lack of innovation mindset” as crucial barriers at the bottom of the hierarchy. Overcoming these barriers requires a shift in organizational mindset, dedicated resources, interdisciplinary collaborations, and aligning DT with healthcare regulations.

The findings aid policymakers in recognizing interconnected barriers, enabling DT implementation through strategic mitigation. Healthcare leaders and stakeholders can use this insight to formulate effective strategies for addressing these barriers.

This research presents a distinct investigation of identifying the barriers to DT implementation in the healthcare sector in India. DT’s seamless implementation in hospitals encounters diverse barriers, hindering its full potential. This research contributes to the extant literature by providing the interrelationship between the barriers and a hierarchical model for a clear understanding of the levels of barriers.

Continuous improvement in an integrated approach is a philosophy developed over decades based on a set of management practices. It comprises enhancement methodologies that escalate success as well as diminishes letdowns. The state-of-the-art literature finds a variety of practices for the execution of continuous improvement (CI) system. However, it is rare to find an empirical study with an inclusive system that considers various practices in one frame for improving competitiveness. With this outlook, therefore, this study aims originally to identify drivers, motivations and barriers for the application of integrated CI system, and then conduct an empirical investigation within the context of Ethiopian manufacturing industries.

Justification of the problem, extensive review of literature, identification of practices, developing research framework, investigational analysis of the empirical study using reliability and descriptive statistical analysis and identifying leading drivers (unique practices and common factors), motivations and barriers are the research approaches used in this study. Furthermore, the primary data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire and were analyzed using a statistical package for social science (SPSS) 23 and the findings were triangulated to relate to the existing state-of-the-art literature.

The findings indicate 17 common factors associated with human, strategic, operational, technology, structure, resource and information factors; 21 unique practices of just-in-time (JIT), lean-six sigma (LSS), supply chain management (SCM), total productive maintenance (TPM), and total quality management (TQM) methodologies; 20 barriers connected with internal and external issues and 17 motivations linked to operational, innovation and business results are identified. In general, the empirical analysis discovers the practices are noteworthy and commonly supported by a least of 52% of the respondents. As a result, the first five prominent common factors, barriers, unique practices and motivations are also supported by a minimum of 72%, 73.9%, 65.8% and 75% of the respondents, respectively.

Even though this is the first-ever study in the Ethiopian manufacturing sector with the focus on integrated CI practices of JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS initiatives, some limitations have existed and the major limitations of the study are, targeted merely small number manufacturing companies despite the fact that there are hundreds of companies implementing CI system in Ethiopia, and the data collected were only based on the perception of the respondents, and other information’s like annual reports was not employed to support the findings.

The findings of this study underlined that the implementation of drivers in relation to common factors and unique practices supported by exterminating barriers in manufacturing industries of Ethiopia enables to enhance competitiveness through attaining operational, innovation and business results though it requires a practical case application to prove this perception-based analysis.

Though there are a number of studies published on integrated continuous improvement, currently it is found that there is no literature focused on the identification and empirical investigation of drivers (common factors and unique practices), motivations and barriers for application of integrated CI system with the focus of JIT, TQM, TPM, SCM and LSS initiatives. Therefore, this is the first-ever study, and the empirical analysis of the study discovered that identified practices are providing valuable insights for manufacturing industries which will be on board on this voyage including institutions, practitioners and other sectors.

This study delves into the challenges obstructing the integration of blockchain-enabled smart contracts (BESC) in the construction industry. Its primary objective is to identify these barriers and propose a roadmap to streamline BESC adoption, thereby promoting sustainability and resilience in building engineering.

Employing a unique approach, this study combines the Technology-Organization-Environment-Social (TOE + S) framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology. Data is collected through surveys and expert interviews, enabling a comprehensive analysis of BESC implementation barriers.

The analysis reveals significant hindrances in the construction industry’s adoption of BESC. Key obstacles include economic and market conditions, insufficient awareness and education about blockchain technology among stakeholders, and limited digital technology integration in specific cultural and societal contexts. These findings shed light on the complexities faced by the industry in embracing blockchain solutions.

The research makes a significant contribution by combining the TOE + S framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology, resulting in a comprehensive roadmap to address barriers in implementing BESC in Sustainable Construction Projects. Noteworthy for its practicality, this roadmap provides valuable guidance for construction stakeholders. Its impact extends beyond the industry, influencing both academic discourse and practical applications.

Previous research has demonstrated that Digital Twins (DT) are extensively employed to improve sustainable construction methods. Nonetheless, their uptake in numerous nations is still constrained. This study seeks to identify and examine the digital twin’s implementation barriers in construction building projects to augment operational performance and sustainability.

An iterative two-stage approach was adopted to explore the phenomena under investigation. General DT Implementation Barriers were first identified from extant literature and subsequently explored using primary questionnaire survey data from Hong Kong building industry professionals.

Survey results illustrated that Lack of methodologies and tools, Difficulty in ensuring a high level of performance in real-time communication, Impossibility of directly measuring all data relevant to the DT, need to share the DT among multiple application systems involving multiple stakeholders and Uncertainties in the quality and reliability of data are the main barriers for adopting digital twins' technology. Moreover, Ginni’s mean difference measure of dispersion showed that the stationary digital twin’s barriers adoption is needed to share the DT among multiple application systems involving multiple stakeholders.

The study’s findings offer valuable guidance to the construction industry. They help stakeholders adopt digital twins' technology, which, in turn, improves cost efficiency and sustainability. This adoption reduces project expenses and enhances environmental responsibility, providing companies a competitive edge in the industry.

This research rigorously explores barriers to Digital Twin (DT) implementation in the Hong Kong construction industry, employing a systematic approach that includes a comprehensive literature review, Ranking Analysis (RII) and Ginni’s coefficient of mean difference (GM). With a tailored focus on Hong Kong, the study aims to identify, analyze and provide novel insights into DT implementation challenges. Emphasizing practical relevance, the research bridges the gap between academic understanding and real-world application, offering actionable solutions for industry professionals, policymakers and researchers. This multifaceted contribution enhances the feasibility and success of DT implementation in construction projects within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector.

Implementing enterprise risk management (ERM) systems in construction firms of developing countries like India is critical for targeting strong risk management strategies that support their growth. It requires such firms to holistically understand the major barriers in terms of their definitions, relationships with one another and interdependencies. Thus, this study aims to identify, model and analyze the barriers to implementing ERM in construction firms using interpretive structural modeling (ISM).

This study used a Delphi process to identify barriers to the implementation of ERM in Indian construction firms, ISM to model them and Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement (MICMAC) to analyze their interrelationships.

The study’s results revealed that individual-level factors are the most important among the barriers present at the lowest level in the hierarchical model, whereas organizational commitment with the highest dependence power is present at the highest level in the hierarchical model.

Since the usage of ERM in the construction industry is highly culture-dependent and may have regional nuances, the data on ERM usage might accurately reflect the Indian construction industry but may not apply to other regions.

This study can be used to develop effective strategies to improve the implementation of ERM in construction firms in developing countries like India.

ERM is crucial for managing risks in Indian construction firms due to the high degree of complexity and uncertainty associated with construction projects coming from changes due to technological advancement, regulatory changes, changes in consumer preferences, global competition and other socioeconomic and political factors.

The study’s results will help researchers and practitioners working in the construction industry of developing countries like India to identify the challenges in adopting ERM systems. It will guide construction firms to appropriately develop risk management strategies for managing the inevitable risks in their complex project environments. This will help improve their contribution to the country’s economic development.

In today’s age of globalization, every industry puts well-determined efforts toward surviving in the market. Industries are well aware of the fact that offering quality products and improving customer satisfaction is the strategic decision toward successful outcomes. During the recent years, food companies have undergone remarkable growth and development worldwide. In the Middle East, with a wide variety of demand and range of cultures, Iran is leading the food industries and possessed a top position of paramount importance. The present research aims to identify and prioritize barriers to implementing total quality management (TQM) in the Solico Food and Beverage Production Group (SFBPG) as a case study.

Firstly, an initial list of barriers is prepared based on a literature review. The identified barriers are then classified into four groups namely behavioral, technical-structural, human and cultural and strategic barriers based on the viewpoint of an expert team at a well-known food company. Secondly, the barriers are prioritized by adopting a special approach to multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) called the Group Best-Worst Method (GBWM).

The obtained results reveal that the most substantial barriers prohibiting the successful implementation of TQM are lack of top management commitment and participation (0.334), high organizational burnout rate (0.128), instability and frequent changes of senior managers (0.123).

In general, this research has ranked the barriers from the most important one to the least significant instance. Additionally, this can enable managers and practitioners in the food industry to make worthy decisions and suggest multiple solutions to cope with obstacles to the successful implementation of TQM.