O'Brien, M and Al-Soufi, A (1994) A survey of data communications in the UK construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 12(5), pp. 457-465. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
The UK construction industry has in general been slow to adopt information technology. The tactical use of this technology for personal productivity improvement has nevertheless become generally accepted. Communications technology has the capability to alter the industry fundamentally. This paper describes a postal survey carried out in early 1993 to ascertain the current position of this particular technology within the UK construction industry; the survey not only provides statistical data but also some evaluative measures on the problems encountered by construction professionals. The survey shows that the use of electronic mail and electronic data interchange is still highly restricted in the industry. More importantly these two technologies are being used primarily to support finance and accounting processes rather than mainstream construction processes.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communications; edi; email; industry; information technology |
| Index terms: | communications technology, productivity, electronic data interchange, construction industry, construction professional, survey, information technology, accounting, construction process |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, data management, building construction, professional development, management, innovation and technology management, economic analysis, computing systems, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Site Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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