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Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been adopted as the main technology in the construction industry in many developed countries due to its notable advantages. However, its applications in developing countries are limited. This paper aims to investigate factors which impact on BIM adoption in the construction industry. Twelve external variables were identified by an integrated TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) and TOE (Technology Organization Environment) framework and a systematic review of past studies. A survey was conducted in development, construction, design and consulting companies to investigate the impacts of these 12 external variables on BIM adoption. Using the interval Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, retrieved 120 completed questionnaires were analysed. The “Requirements from national policies” was found to be the most significant driving variable of BIM adoption by investigated companies. A further simulation analysis revealed that the “Intention to Use” BIM varied significantly with the change of “Requirements from national policies”, “Standardization of BIM”, and “Popularity of BIM in the industry”. The results lead to the conclusion that government incentives play critical roles in BIM adoption in China. Policy makers could put more efforts into motivation strategies, standardization measures, and BIM culture cultivation to promote BIM applications in the construction industry.

Abstracts The paper focuses on the conceptualization and measurement of global justice and discusses theories, concepts, evaluative principles, and methodologies related to the study of global justice. In this paper, we seek to clarify how to conceptualize global justice, how conceptual indicators can be selected and justified by theories, and how those indicators can be conceptually consistent with the concept of global justice. Global justice is a broad concept that is composed of multi-level and multidimensional aspects belonging to both normative and empirical realities. A coherent and integrated theoretical framework that covers the normative basis and various empirical dimensions is therefore much needed in order to address some of the basic and important questions under study. The paper seeks to synthesize the multiple theories and conceptions of global justice that exist in the academic discourse and literature into three main theoretical approaches to global justice—rights based, good based, and virtue based. These three approaches are a good sample of and reflect well the strengths of the different theoretical, intellectual and cultural traditions at play in the study of global justice. From this perspective, the synthesis of the three approaches is meant to provide us with a coherent theoretical framework that serves as the normative basis and justifies the selection of indicators for measurement.

Authoritarian deliberation has been used widely to describe the specific form of deliberation developed in China. However, whether its practice will strengthen authoritarianism or lead to democratization remains unknown. In this study, we examine this question from the perspective of participants in public deliberation. Surveying the participants in participatory pricings held in Shanghai over the past 5 years, we find that participants’ perception of deliberative quality has a statistically significant negative impact on their level of political activism, while their level of empowerment has a moderating effect on this negative relationship. In this light, Chinese deliberative practices characterized by high-quality deliberation and low-level empowerment are likely to have a demobilization effect; thus, they reinforce the authoritarian rules.