Eze, E C; Sofolahan, O; Ugulu, R A and Ameyaw Effah, E E (2025) Bolstering circular economy in construction through digitalisation. Construction Innovation, 25(6), pp. 1774-1796. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the potential benefits of digital technologies (DTs) in bolstering the circular economy (CE) transition in the construction industry, to speed up the attainment of sustainable development objectives. Design/methodology/approach A detailed literature review was undertaken to identify DTs that could influence CE transition and the benefits of these DTs in the CE transitioning efforts of the construction industry. Based on these, a survey questionnaire was formulated and administered to construction professionals using convenient sampling techniques. With a response rate of 49.42% and data reliability of over 0.800, the gathered data were analysed using frequency and percentage, mean item score, normalisation value, coefficient of variation, Kendall's coefficient of concordance, analysis of variance and factor analysis. Findings This study found that the construction experts agreed that building information modelling, blockchain technology, RFID, drone technology and cloud computing are the leading DTs that have the potential to influence and speed up CE transition in construction. Also, six clusters of benefits of DTs in bolstering EC are quicken CE transition, proactive waste management, recycling and zero waste, data management and decision-making, enhance productivity and performance and resource optimisation. Originality/value Studies on the integration of DTs in CE transition are scarce and it is even lacking in the Nigerian context. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to assess the role of DTs in CE transitioning in the Nigerian construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | circular economy; construction industry; digital technologies; Nigeria; sustainability; waste minimisation |
| Index terms: | questionnaire, waste management, decision-making, methodology, integration, variation, digital technology, drone, cloud computing, digitalization, minimization, survey, sustainable development, literature review, factor analysis, sampling, construction professional, blockchain, construction industry, resource optimization, variance, building information modelling, circular economy, Nigeria, recycling, productivity, data management |
| Subjects: | data management, organizational analysis, decision analysis, measurement and scaling, industry analysis, statistical analysis, digital infrastructure, information systems, management, contractual condition, professional development, data analysis and analytics, data collection methods, computing systems, control systems, research methods, algorithms, health safety and environment, sustainable design, Geography, automation and robotics, digital technology, waste management |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Contract Administration, Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Health and Safety, Project Management, Geographical Context, Risk Management, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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