Barriers to the digital transformation process in the Turkish construction industry

Abstract

Technological developments continue to accelerate from the past to the present. The increase in the pace of development has caused a decrease in the cost of technology. With the decreasing costs, technology has begun to take place in every aspect of our lives. An effort has emerged to incorporate these developments in business life. Although other industries' close relationship with digital developments come to the fore, unfortunately, it is not possible to see this situation in the construction industry. On the other hand, taken into account of competitive market conditions and inefficiency problems that the sector faces, there is a need for the construction industry to adopt digital technologies. For the adoption process to digitalization to proceed quickly and accurately, the barriers to digitalization need to be identified. Just as the construction industry lags other sectors in digital transformation processes, the Turkish construction industry also lags other countries in digital transformation processes. This study aims to pave the way for the creation of successful and easy-to-implement digital transformation strategies by identifying the barriers to digitalization in the Turkish construction industry. The research methodology of this study involved conducting a comprehensive literature review of articles published in the last 10 years. As a result of this research, 14 potential factors that could hinder the digital transformation process in the construction industry were identified from 38 sources and frequency analysis of these factors was carried out. Then, to determine the suitability of determined factors for the Turkish construction industry, a pilot study was conducted with 6 experts who have expertise in digital transformation and building information modeling applications. The findings emphasize the importance of these barriers to the digital transformation process in the Turkish construction industry. As a result, this study sheds light on the need to identify the factors that hinder digital transformation in the Turkish construction industry. The results of the study can guide studies aiming to examine the relationship between barriers to digital transformation in the Turkish construction industry or future studies aiming to develop digital transformation strategies in the Turkish construction industry.