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The construction industry is witnessing a paradigm shift as a consequence of the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0). The implementation of IR4.0 technologies is, however, elementary in emerging economies such as Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to carry out an examination of benefits, challenges and critical success factors for IR4.0 implementation in the construction industry in Saudi Arabia.

The methodology entailed a thorough review of the extant literature and consultation with experienced construction professionals in Saudi Arabia through questionnaire surveys. The data collected was further analyzed using the relative importance index approach and the confirmatory factor analysis.

The most important benefits, challenges and critical success factors established by this study include “Improved Communication and Coordination,” “Cost of implementation (initial investment and maintenance)” and “Clear goals and objectives,” respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis established a theoretical model to serve as a foundation for IR4.0 adoption in the Saudi construction industry.

The limitations may be perceived in terms of the local context of the research, as well as the sample size. This prevents the potential for generalization of the study’s results.

It is of practical value to the Saudi construction industry in facilitating the successful implementation of technology through policies, frameworks and best practice guidance.

The study advances the theoretical knowledge of technology implementation in the construction industry. Emerging economies such as Saudi Arabia seeking to leverage the capabilities of digital technologies will find the results of this to be of crucial value.

Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study.

A broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach.

The study’s findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is “detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication,” whereas the most important barrier is “the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM.”

The study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.

Business process reengineering (BPR) is a management improvement tool that entails radical changes to organizations' core processes, culture and legacy systems. Although BPR initiatives are favored by many mangers, employees on the other hand, perceive BPR as a potential threat to lose their jobs. This research aims to enhance the employee perception toward BPR implementation in the construction industry as BPR asks for job enlargement (number of different tasks) and enrichment (degree of responsibility) and doesn’t target the workforce downsizing by itself.

The research is conducted in Saudi Arabia by involving experienced construction industry practitioners in a survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to gain an insightful perception toward BPR constituents. BPR asks for job enlargement (number of different tasks) and enrichment (degree of responsibility). The survey questionnaire is verified from the literature related to BPR and pilot study through experienced construction practitioners. The experts validated the findings.

The findings of this research reveal a general positive acceptance toward BPR constituents in construction industry. Jobs enrichment and enlargement should be approached: by integrating IT with business functions (especially communication); developing flexible management systems; and encouraging and empowering employees to generate value through their jobs with more delegated authority.

The work is one of the few studies to address the concept of Business Process Reengineering in the construction industry. We explore two research questions as detailed in the submission (BPR perception in the construction industry, and how to have a successful BPR by job enlargement and enrichment. The methods can be extended to other industries and in different parts in the world.

Despite the numerous benefits of adopting international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), effective operation of the joint ventures in Saudi Arabia is impeded by various limitations. Thus, this paper is aimed at determining, analyzing, and prioritizing these major limitations and to propose a strategy that can provide guidance on how best to promote the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Content analysis was augmented by the expert-based assessment process to identify the critical limitations while the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique was utilized to analyze and determine the hierarchical structure of the limitations. This is important in order to comprehend and describe the complex relationship between the limitations.

The results identified “selecting unsuitable partner”, “divergent organizational cultures, policies and procedures”, and “poor knowledge of local regulations by foreign partners” as the most critical limitations affecting the efficiency of joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia.

The inclusion of many variables (limitations) increases the complexity of the ISM technique, which compels the researchers to consider reduced number of variables in establishing the ISM structural hierarchy. Other variables that were perceived to be less critical were not included in the development of the ISM structural hierarchy. On the other hand, the structural hierarchy was not validated statistically, and this requires the use of other linear structural relationship techniques like the Structural Equation Modeling to test the validity of the hypothetical ISM structural hierarchy. The proposed strategy to mitigate the limitations presented in this study was not validated, and this requires further study to verify the accuracy of the strategy.

The implications inferred in this study are better performing ICJVs in the execution of mega infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia. The findings and managerial implications of the study are expected to further provide an invaluable guide that can support policymakers and all key stakeholders to establish efficient strategies and suitable measures that can enhance the successful implementation of ICJVs.

The findings of this study provide comprehensive understanding of the limitations affecting the efficiency of ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. This can assist in mitigating the potential impacts of these limitations and to advocate for the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, there is a need to further develop a framework that can elucidate on the proposed strategy to promote better performing ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. Also, the further study will seek to investigate the influence of project duration, value, location, or ownership on the performance of the joint ventures in order to generalize the findings to all forms of ICJVs.

This research aims to examine the practice of design for safety (DfS) in the construction industry of Saudi Arabia.

The study has adopted a mixed-method approach through the use of questionnaire surveys administered to professionals in architecture and engineering firms, as well as follow-up interviews with selected participants. The participants consisted of architects, structural engineers and electromechanical engineers. The study investigated dimensions related to knowledge and awareness, attitude toward DfS implementation and critical success factors for DfS implementation. These various dimensions have been assessed accordingly through the mean ratings in the relevant section of this paper. The thematic responses obtained from the follow-up interviews have been summarized and presented.

The findings from this study reveal a high level of awareness of DfS in Saudi Arabia. It also revealed that the most influential critical success factors are legislation and awareness of stakeholders, whereas the major barrier is the fear of cost overruns by the clients and their representatives.

The design stage of construction projects is crucial to enhancing the safety performance of projects through effective control of hazardous situations. The concept of DfS is, however, immature in many countries, such as Saudi Arabia, due to lack of awareness, enabling policies and other barriers. The value of this study is that it shows the current level of knowledge and practice of DfS in architecture and engineering firms in Saudi Arabia and consequently triggers the interest of stakeholders in its adoption and implementation.

In this work, a framework for assessing construction contractors' performance in Saudi Arabia is developed. Usually, a contractor's assessment is based on financial aspects, which are lagging indicators in nature, and can ignore other nonfinancial aspects. Hence, a more detailed contractors' assessment framework is needed for the construction industry in Saudi Arabia. A framework that integrates financial and nonfinancial aspects in one model will enable contractors to better benchmark their performance to the rest of Saudi Arabia's construction industry.

Initially, the literature is reviewed and the most commonly used key performance indicators (KPIs) are identified and surveyed through contractors’ feedback to ensure their proper alignment with Saudi Arabia’s construction industry. The adopted set of KPIs will be further prioritized through the relative importance index (RII) method based on the surveyed contractors’ perceptions. Furthermore, the important set of KPIs will be factored into various groups using principle component analysis (PCA). Finally, the findings are validated through expert judgment.

All key performance indicators (KPIs) have proven to be significant, except for the environmental factor, which happens to be nonsignificant and hence has been omitted from further consideration. The remaining KPIs have been factored through the principle component analysis method. Five generic dimensions were identified: Performance, Satisfaction, Actual Metrics, Estimated Metrics and Compliance. The model has been validated by expert feedback, and it was found to be reliable.

The proposed model establishes an assessment framework to aid building construction contractors in assessing their performance in real time, in addition to postconstruction assessment for business development and retrofitting purposes.

This study examines the underlying relationships between the critical factors of building information modeling (BIM) implementation and the factors' groupings among architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations in Saudi Arabia. The objectives of the study are to (1) identify the critical factors for BIM implementation, (2) analyze the interrelationships between the critical factors and (3) compare the critical factors between the different organizational characteristics.

First, potential factors were identified through a systematic literature review and interviews with AEC professionals. Then, a questionnaire survey was sent to AEC professionals and the collected data were analyzed using the following techniques and tests: mean score ranking, standard deviation, normalized value, factor analysis (FA), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey test.

The analyses show that 14 factors are critical for BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia. The top critical factors include the existence of standard contracts on data security and user confidentiality, consistent views on BIM among stakeholders and the availability of guidelines for implementing BIM. Of the 14 critical factors, 9 can be grouped into 4 underlying factors: environmental, governmental, legal and organizational. The analysis shows that the criticality of the most critical factors grouped by the FA varies between different levels of BIM competency. Finally, the presence of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in realizing BIM projects is a new and emerging critical factor for BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia.

This study differs from prior works on BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia by using FA to explore the underlying relationships among factors of BIM implementation and the factors' groupings. Based on the FA results, a roadmap for implementing the BIM was developed. These findings will help to purposefully and efficiently customize BIM implementation strategies and initiatives to ensure successful BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of this research is to identify the constraints and restrictions and their impact on the construction projects in Saudi Arabia from three key participants' perspectives for the planning stage.

Using a descriptive-analytical approach, this research described and analyzed the frequency and severity of failure factors in construction projects in the planning stage using a five-Likert scale questionnaire in Saudi Arabia construction between 2019 and 2020. A total of 100 experts from contractors, consultants and owners were included in the study.

The findings have shown that time dispute was the major factor affecting the projects to be failed. Similarly, cost overrun and total abandonment have an impact on project failures. The findings have indicated that government officials were involved in delaying the projects while contractors also failed in the project deliveries.

Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between failure characteristics and project success measures in the same stage, in addition to, factors of failure for construction projects' life-cycle stages.

The findings have indicated that government officials were involved in delaying the projects while contractors also failed in the project deliveries.

There is a limited number of research work on critical success factors (CSFs) in public construction projects in Saudi Arabia. In response to this knowledge gap, the objective of this paper is to assess the impact of CSFs on the government construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The success factors are investigated from a broader consideration of failure criteria, from consideration of most effectiveness in successful project completion and also from consideration of the impact of implementing control processes for successful project completion.

This study has analysed the impact of success factors on construction projects in Saudi Arabia using a descriptive methodology. An exhaustive literature survey is undertaken to identify the success and failure factors related to government construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The survey data are sorted out and analysed by cost, schedule, technical, context and finance dimensions of the projects based on project types, engineering complexity, size, modality, jurisdictional control and funding approach. To evaluate the influence of success factors implementation, qualitative data were collected in a survey via a web-based questionnaire that was sent to officials working and occupying a responsible position in national project guidelines organizations and in government construction organizations in Saudi Arabia. In all, 28 CSFs were identified, ranked and evaluated for their impact on project success. The four identified factors belong to process categories of construction projects, nine factors belong to management of construction projects and 15 success factors are identified for impact assessment of implementation in construction projects.

The study's findings have identified and ranked the top five CSFs that significantly influence project outcomes, including meeting time targets, adhering to financial budgets, delivering desired outcomes for all stakeholders, effectively managing risks and assembling the appropriate team while optimizing resource allocation. Additionally, the research indicates that hindrances to projects primarily stem from execution, economic, human and political factors. The study advocates for strict controls over incomplete engineering designs and advises against contractors independently handling design work to ensure project success. Additionally, addressing contractors' qualifications and financial matters is crucial for project success. By highlighting these CSFs and challenges, the research provides actionable insights to enhance project management practices in the construction industry.

This study is limited to the infrastructure projects constructed by governmental bodies with the participation of officials from government organizations. Further study, including private projects and officials working on private projects, may be needed to generalized the research outcome.

Numerous studies have investigated CSFs in construction projects, but few have examined their relevance to Saudi Arabian government projects. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying key CSFs specific to Saudi Arabian public sector construction projects and assessing their impact on project success. It advocates for stringent controls in the Saudi Arabian construction sector, emphasizing the importance of preventing incomplete or altered engineering designs by contractors to increase the success rate of public sector projects. This research offers practical insights to stakeholders, advancing project management practices in Saudi Arabia's construction sector for improved outcomes and resource utilization.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers to implementing lean construction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction industry and to prioritise the principal factors that constitute these barriers.

A literature review was initially used to reveal the global barriers to implementing lean construction. Subsequently, these barriers were incorporated into a structured questionnaire, and a convenience sample of 282 construction professionals in the KSA construction industry was surveyed. The results were analysed using mean item score (MIS), Mann–Whitney U test and principal component analysis (PCA).

The findings revealed 22 barriers to lean construction implementation in the KSA construction industry. Principal factors that constitute these barriers were found to be traditional practices, client related, technological, performance and knowledge and cost-related barriers in descending order of pervasiveness. The study also proposes solutions to overcome these principal barriers.

This study provides a global overview of the barriers to implementing lean construction. It contributes to the body of knowledge, as it uncovers for the first time the barriers to implementing lean construction in the KSA construction industry with reference to the socio-cultural, economic and operational context of the KSA. Thus, it is relevant to other countries in the Middle East because of their shared similarities to the KSA. Furthermore, the solutions proposed to overcome these barriers in the KSA construction industry can be applied in other countries where similar barriers are identified.