Rodgers, C; Hosseini, M R; Chileshe, N and Rameezdeen, R (2015) Building information modelling (BIM) within the Australian construction related small and medium sized enterprises: Awareness, practices and drivers. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 31st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2015, Lincoln, UK.
Abstract
Review of literature on BIM reveals a bias towards focusing on large companies and overlooking SMEs in Australia. To bridge this gap of knowledge, this study explores the level of awareness, practices and drivers of BIM among SMEs within the Australian construction industry through the lenses of theories of innovation diffusion in construction companies. In so doing, a questionnaire survey was administered and 41 responses received from these SMEs engaged in commercial, industrial and public works. Accordingly, seven face-to-face interviews were conducted to compensate for the small sample size and to expand the survey data in more depth. The findings brought to light that current knowledge of BIM in SMEs is one-sided and negatively biased with a tendency towards highlighting challenges and overlooking the advantages. Besides, a significant association was spotted between the awareness of values of BIM and the practices related with BIM in SMEs. Additionally, the most influential drivers for BIM were turned out to be all associated with economic gains for the business of the companies alongside clients' demands. Furthermore, it was revealed that practices associated with BIM and awareness of BIM are similar across different sizes of SMEs.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building information modelling; SMEs; drivers; innovation; Australia |
| Index terms: | building information modelling, interview, innovation diffusion, Australia, construction company, survey, sample size, small and medium sized enterprise, face, questionnaire, bias, public work, construction industry |
| Subjects: | psychology, data collection methods, research design and methodology, organization, industry analysis, information systems, sociology, Geography, infrastructure engineering, probability and distributions |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Digital Applications, Organizational Design |
| 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