Critical success factors for digital partnering of construction organisations – a Delphi study

Abstract

PurposeThe construction organisations in developing countries are lagging in digital technology usage; hence, they are still characterised by poor project delivery and technological backwardness. To checkmate this problem, partnering with other organisations was proposed, while critical factors needed for successful digital partnering of construction organisations were assessed.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a qualitative research approach. Delphi method was used to get experts' opinion on some identified factors necessary for successful digital partnering. The experts for the study were selected using defined criteria, and a combination of interquartile deviation, Kendall's coefficient of concordance and chi-square was used to achieve robust consensus among respondents. Mann–Whitney U test was also used to ascertain the difference in perception of experts.FindingsThe findings revealed trust in digital partners, top management support and digital partner selection as the three key success factors for partnering. Other factors that can be considered alongside these main factors are the creation of a common goal, a long-term commitment, effective communication, proper conflict resolution and structured as well as continuous digital training, workshops and meetings.Practical implicationsInstead of going through the digitalisation journey alone, construction organisations, particularly in a developing country like South Africa, stand a better chance of surviving the dynamic construction and digital environment by partnering with other organisations within and outside the industry. Carefully selecting the right partner, trusting in their capability and ensuring constant commitment is necessary for the success of the process.Originality/valueThe value of this study lies in its ability to showcase the critical success factors needed for effective digital partnering, an aspect that lacks adequate consideration in the digitalisation of construction industry discourse.

Achieving Sustainable Procurement in Construction Projects: The Pivotal Role of a Project Management Office

“…We conducted this study to highlight the importance of sustainability in the procurement process through a research design including three stages of (1) literature review, (2) opinion survey, and (3) expert consensus. As a result of the first stage, it was found that although there are evident benefits for contractors both in the public and private sectors in practicing sustainability, evidence from previous research shows that it has not still become a permanent part of construction projects (Charmaz, 2014;Giles and Yates, 2014;Aghimien, Aigbavboa and Oke, 2020).…”

“…It is suggested in the literature that after consolidating the individual expert feedback, the results can be sent to participants to review the consolidated outcomes and validate them (Aghimien, Aigbavboa and Oke, 2020). Participants were invited via email to review the elicited codes and themes representing essential roles that PMOs undertake to implement sustainability in the procurement process.…”

Facilitating Digital Transformation in Construction—A Systematic Review of the Current State of the Art

“…Process-centric strategic consideration suggests systematic implementation of digital technologies and has been found to foster DT in construction (Li et al, 2019;Aghimien et al, 2020b). This strategic consideration aligns the implementation of digital technologies procedurally with the construction project lifecycle phases (Koseoglu et al, 2019;Morgan, 2019), for instance, initially implementing BIM in the design and construction phases and later implementing the tool at the building operation phase.…”

“…Taking an example of BIM implementation, BIM champions are distinguished from adopters-only by emphasizing institutional outcomes beyond implementationonly (Azzouz and Papadonikolaki, 2020), such as digital knowledge networking (Azzouz and Papadonikolaki, 2020;Hetemi et al, 2020). Digital champions can be construction and project leaders who imbibe a strong commitment to implement digital technologies even when inconvenient (Chen, 2019a;Aghimien et al, 2020b). Such commitment can be exemplary for operation-level employees in construction (Berlak et al, 2020) and has been found to motivate them to become digital champions (Bonanomi et al, 2019).…”

“…Such commitment can be exemplary for operation-level employees in construction (Berlak et al, 2020) and has been found to motivate them to become digital champions (Bonanomi et al, 2019). At the organization level, digital champions have been found to encourage the interorganizational application of digital technologies through digital partnerships (Aghimien et al, 2020b). Furthermore, digital champions facilitate DT at the institutional level, ensuring that the application of digital technologies by digital agents (users) conforms with professional institution rules and standards in the construction industry (Morgan, 2019).…”