Challenges faced by the adoption of big data in the Dominican Republic construction industry: an empirical study

Abstract

The adoption of Big Data (BD) in the construction industry has been identified as a possible solution to the demand of the current needs of projects, but the integration of this technology has proven to be a challenge specially in industries such as construction that are not technological driven. The understanding of the key elements for the BD adoption has become the focus of many industries that seek to exploit the benefits offered by this technology. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the challenges faced by the adoption of BD in the Dominican Republic (DR) construction industry. To identify these challenges qualitative research was undertaken due to the paucity of scientific data. Twenty-one individuals representing 19 companies who have great impact in the DR construction sector were interviewed. From the analysis six main challenges were identified. They are: lack BD awareness, high cost of investment, resistance to change, lack of government support and regulation, lack of technological expertise, and security concerns of BD. The challenges identified in this study, will serve to help companies better plan their technology adoption process, mainly considering aspects such as the need to tackle the lack of awareness by disseminating and promoting the concept of BD which will not only generate a better understanding of technology by making sure that present and future professionals understand the technology and its benefits. This study provides insight in the challenges to overcome for a successful adoption of BD technology, which would help companies to prepare for a future adoption.

Mapping the Barriers of Big Data Process in Construction: The Perspective of Construction Professionals

“…Awareness in the case of this study is about lack of communication about big data during the implementation stage, which is different from lack of awareness findings from the study of Reyes-Veras et al [16]-lack of knowledge on the concept of big data. Awareness is explained by data input by multiple people (B06) and human involvement (B14).…”

“…These were the categorized barriers supporting the People theme. Resistance from people (B33) was the only identified barrier within this theme consistent with existing construction [16,17] and general big data literature [24,38,39], which is within the people theme in this study. Several studies on digital technologies/industry 4.0 have also identified the same barrier within the context of those studies.…”

“…Meanwhile, the lack of technology know-how (B21) identified in an earlier study [16] could be another underlying factor for B08. Most of the technologies used in the construction industry produce data.…”

“…It is important to note that the barriers to be identified will be mapped to them. For instance, the problem of resistance to change [16] becomes a people problem from the theoretical and literature perspective. On the other hand, it becomes a barrier relating to the organizational-external context of the big data process because it does not fit into any of the defined stages.…”

“…In such a compromised situation, a defect might have been made already and rectifying it will require extra time and cost. Reyes-Veras et al [16] raised security concerns as a challenge in big data due to no structured protocol for protecting the sanctity of the data.…”