An empirical test of causal relationships of factors affecting ICT adoption for building project management: An Indian SME case study

Purpose – Building project management (BPM) requires effective coordination and collaboration between multiple project team organisations which can be achieved by real time information flow between all participants. In the present scenario, this can be achieved by the use of information communication technologies (ICT). The purpose of this paper is to present part of a research project conducted to study the causal relationships between factors affecting ICT adoption for BPM by small and medium enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis conducted to test the causal relationships between quantitative factors. Data for quantitative analysis were gathered through a questionnaire survey conducted in the Indian construction industry. Findings – SEM analysis results help in demonstrating that an increased and matured use of ICT for general administration within the organisation would lead to: an improved ICT infrastructure within the organisation; development of electronic databases; and a staff that is confident of using information technology (IT) tools. In such a scenario, staff would use advanced software and IT technologies for project management (PM) processes and that would lead to an increased adoption of ICT for PM processes. But, for general administration also, ICT adoption would be enhanced if the organisation is interacting more with geographically separated agencies and senior management perceives that significant benefits would accrue by adoption of ICT. All the factors are interrelated and their effect cannot be maximized in isolation. Originality/value – The results provide direction to building project managers for strategically adopting the effective use of ICT within their organisations and for BPM in general.