Liu, H; Han, S and Zhu, Z (2023) Blockchain technology toward smart construction: Review and future directions. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 149(3): 03123002, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The construction industry has been criticized for low productivity, lack of collaboration and information sharing, poor contract administration, and the like due to its decentralized and fragmented structure as well as sequential and chain-resembling nature. Recently, blockchain technology and its benefits have received wide attention and interest. This research synthesizes the research trends and needs of this growing area by means of a bibliometric-qualitative review method. Scopus and Web of Science were selected as the literature databases to retrieve relevant academic publications. Through a systematic literature search and screening, 181 related articles were identified for bibliometric analysis, and 149 publications were critically discussed in a qualitative review. The bibliometric results indicated the recent research regarding blockchain in construction is primarily directed into several clusters, such as "smart contract,""Building Information Modeling (BIM),""supply chain management,""construction contract,""construction and project management,""digital twin,"and "smart city."These clusters were further synthesized for a qualitative review revealing deep insight into research challenges and gaps. Both quantitative and qualitative review results were then mapped to the future directions. It was noted that future research needs to focus on (1) quantifying the cost-benefits of the blockchain applications in construction, e.g., return on investment, practitioners training, and improving industry readiness, (2) integration of blockchain with different project delivery systems, and (3) technology fusion with blockchain for construction management.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | blockchain; digital twin; literature review; supply chain |
| Index terms: | publication, digital twin, practitioner, integration, collaboration, bibliometric analysis, science, literature review, project delivery, blockchain, project management, construction industry, smart contract, return on investment, information sharing, construction contract, screening, database, productivity, smart city, building information modelling, contract administration |
| Subjects: | digital technology, project delivery, economic analysis, data analysis and analytics, digital engineering, contract type, research dissemination and communication, computing systems, practitioner, urban sustainability, specialized education, organizational analysis, research evaluation and metrics, data management, information systems, industry analysis, data exchange, management, contract management, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Procurement, Roles and Professions, Information Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Business Strategy, Education, Contract Administration, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Digital Applications, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here