Ali Saad

UK industry has recently highlighted concerns relating to the structural safety of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in existing structures, together with a small number of collapses without warning. A broad body of scholarly academic research already exists on AAC in Building Structures, though much less on RAAC. Against the fact that extant research is primarily industry-led, there is a lack of a systematic critical review of the body of academic literature available. To achieve this, the paper systematically reviews 92 academic papers filtered from over 480 published studies on AAC/RAAC, each included after applying an exclusion criterion, from 1980 to 2024. The review identifies four drivers for AAC applications in building structures, namely AAC being: 1) a lightweight material, useful in reducing load transfers, 2) an insulating material, against fire, temperature, and sounds, 3) a sustainable material, of a recyclable nature with relatively low carbon emissions, and 4) an economical material because of its composition and ease of use and application. Moreover, it also identifies the popular areas of AAC application within buildings, the processes involved in its production, the material's behaviour and characteristics, the types of reinforcement, and the modes of AAC failure. Such a review of knowledge from the last 40 years will help scholars identify the understudied research gaps and several untapped research areas that are included in the proposed research agenda.

Poor health and safety (H&S) conditions in the construction industry are linked to ill-defined social and economic factors. To mitigate poor construction H&S performance, it has been widely recommended that Lean Construction (LC) strategies be adopted. Existing literature shows a strong correlation between implementing LC and improving construction H&S performance. However, limited research utilises qualitative research based on primary data to understand the perspectives of experts with real-world experience on the LC/H&S relationship. To address this gap, we conducted a novel study interviewing eight highly experienced LC experts to gain insights into how LC can enhance H&S in construction projects. Going beyond theory, we conceptualised a model linking key LC methods to root causes of H&S accidents to enable tangible improvements. This model intends to guide construction professionals in adopting and implementing LC strategies to foster safer construction workplaces. Our findings affirm and extend prior research by emphasising the efficacy of LC methods in improving H&S performance in construction projects.

The challenges imposed by the construction industry have, for decades, pressured research and practice to consider the adoption of innovations as means of constructive change. An increasingly emerging technique of construction that shifts key processes offsite is a construction methodology that maximises control. Such an approach is described as the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), a term that has been widely utilised as a reference to practices that drive less site labour, fewer on-site activities, and maximum offsite and premanufactured value. Such fundamental change in how construction normally operates is logically accompanied by inconsistencies with the contractual arrangements. However, limited research focuses on how traditional arrangements are shaped and amended to suit the offsite anecdote in terms of contract form, contract type, procurement strategy, common changes, and legislation’s role. A change in traditional processes would reasonably mean a change in the formal agreements, a research gap that motivates this paper to deem this exploration as timely and necessary. A qualitative research method has been utilised to approach forty critical positions of influence in the United Kingdom such as CEOs, COOs, managing directors, managers, and other decision-makers in businesses categorised as MMC firms. This is considered the first study to explore leaders’ viewpoints to better understand how contractual arrangements flow to facilitate, or undermine, MMC in the construction industry. Results suggest that JCT, Design and Build, and bespoke amendments in the payment mechanisms are the preferred contractual arrangements when using MMC. Moreover, the findings indicate that the success of these arrangements is conditioned to early involvement and collaboration between supply and demand.

The shift towards digitalisation has been empowering growth in the construction industry, especially in the past decade. Construction stakeholders are offered myriad benefits by embracing digital advancements to achieve efficiency. However, the exploitation of digital opportunities is bounded by the need for a practitioner skillset that aligns with the digital era, a requirement that has been described as difficult to meet and justified by the low degree of digital literacy among construction employees. This paper reports findings from interviews with 19 leaders and decision-makers in the construction sector to reveal the indicators that can predict construction employees’ digital literacy. Such an approach offers a comprehensive exploration of the likelihood of employees’ digital literacy through socially oriented characteristics. Overall, 19 individual characteristics emerged from the thematic analysis and highlight the critical connection between social behaviour and digital literacy. The findings of this paper are timely and important for those businesses assessing their employees’ willingness and maturity with regard to technological change through social and behavioural information. The qualitative approach led to the development of a conceptual framework that can explain the dynamics needed to assess employees’ digital literacy in construction organisations. This study, therefore, reveals the effectiveness of predicting employees’ readiness to shine in the digital era by shedding light on their digital literacy through examinations of individual characteristics in a construction workplace. This paper is among the first to encourage research efforts that take into account the importance of studying social and psychological complexities, which are subject areas that are limited in recent construction literature. As such, it is of value to employers wishing to embed greater digitalisation in their firms, as well as researchers in this domain and policymakers looking to encourage greater digital transformations.

For decision-makers in construction organisations, it is imperative that persuasive business cases are formulated on matters of digital transformation. In fact, a link has been established between the low adoption of digitalisation in construction organisations and poor business case formation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the cues that may facilitate the development of such a business case responsible for wider adoption. (1) Methodology: We utilised a purposive sampling method to gather qualitative data from 19 leaders of UK construction organisations. Analysis of the semi-structured interviews involves a thematic analysis through an inductive approach. (2) Findings: Overall, this exploration led to the emergence of nine themes, informing research on aspects that may contribute to substantiating a compelling business case behind the broader use of digitalisation in construction firms. The findings suggest that embracing such arguments would enable digital advocates to craft compelling arguments that may persuade decision-makers towards digitalisation. (3) Originality: This is the first paper in the construction domain to explore how building a robust business case that can justify adoption, offering digital advocates a set of cues that can be used to develop a successful relational capability to advance with their digital agendas. Thus, this study is a unique contribution to the literature, offering evidence that is otherwise understudied in the construction context.

Different researchers have examined construction innovation from diverse perspectives and with varied conclusions, but what has commonly transpired is that the construction industry is a complex and ever‐changing environment that tends to have a selective perspective on innovation. Recently, digitalisation has offered critical enhancements in construction organisations’ internal processes. However, the uptake of these innovations is far from satisfactory. To integrate theory with practice, sensemaking theories provide an opportunity to help us understand and explain the social phenomenon behind achieving a common meaning across social systems. In the quest to sup‐ port research efforts through understanding and explaining the enablers of digital transformation, this paper aims to qualitatively apply the sensemaking perspective to digitalisation in construction organisations. To this end, an empirical qualitative approach was adopted using a questionnaire survey of 59 construction professionals, from different firms in the United Kingdom, providing a perspective on how sense is being developed by their organisations to foster digitalisation and achieve an effective digital transformation. Results suggest that a variety of aspects contribute to the indecision of construction firms towards digitalisation, informing research of the pressure points deemed critical at both leadership and employee levels. The findings point to the complexity of construction organisations and the non‐linear nature of embracing new ideas. Future research is encouraged to assess the empirically captured cues presented in this paper through other means of investigation toward a more robust sensemaking perspective in the construction industry.

Recently, the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) are gaining ground due to the support of both the private and governmental sectors. However, the scale of the uptake among more traditional contractors is still weak. On the other hand, public clients have a track record in motivating the traditional sector to adopt innovation towards meeting their specific needs. This paper aims to investigate the gaps within the public sector and their ability to accelerate innovation. The study will review existing literature relevant to understand the required relation and influence. The central hypothesis of this research is that public client's engagement in procuring MMC projects would trigger and accelerate traditional contractors' organizational transformation to adopt such methods. Hence, this study aims to understand the complex dynamics of the involvement of public clients on possibly motivating traditional contractors towards offering innovative solutions. The findings of this research would support the effective intervention for more effective diffusion of MMC and add to the knowledge of facilitating a greater adoption of innovation within the UK public bodies. The main objectives of this research are to a) Understand the relation between public clients and contractors, b)Examine the influence exerted by public clients on contractors' behaviour, and c) Investigate theability of public procurement frameworks to act as integrators towards increasing the adoption ofinnovation. The findings highlight a gap within existing literature represented by the limited studiesaddressing contractors' behaviour in the public client context, particularly in MMC, and moreunderstanding of public clients' decision making processes are needed to enable researchers andpractitioners to have better understanding on contracts' behaviour towards the adoption ofinnovation's body of research.

Purpose Against a background context of Construction 4.0, this study aims to explore what digital leadership in construction firms is, why it is necessary and what considerations it involves. It provides a digital leadership considerations framework to aid organisational digital transformations. Design/methodology/approach To address the research question informing what digital leadership involves, an interpretivist study was conducted. Eleven purposively selected expert practitioners, including construction business leaders and company digital champions were surveyed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. This obtained insights and reflections on how construction leaders can impel digital transformations. Findings How construction leaders can embed the skills to drive such transformation in their firms, what the essential digital skills for construction businesses now are in Construction 4.0 and how leaders can attempt to evaluate the value of digital technology for their business practices, are all crystallised. Impacts of digital transformations on the construction workplace are also highlighted. Practical implications Because of this work, business leaders will be better equipped to lead and support further digital transformation efforts in Construction 4.0. Future research directions aid academics. Originality/value Clear definitions of digital transformation and digital leadership are provided, and a digital leadership considerations framework is provided to support firm-level digital transformations for Construction 4.0.

Despite the calls to transform construction and the potential of the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to address traditional construction concerns, the global construction industry is yet to embrace the benefits. The purpose of this review is to theoretically explain MMC low uptake in the public sector by exploring the relative pressure points that are contributing to clients’ indecision. The study argues the five functional constructs of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) against MMC attributes. A systematic review of sixty-seven articles through a Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) led to key arguments that explicate the lesser drive for MMC adoption. Results reveal that past literature is plurally discarding the dynamics between supply and demand, decision-making, and contracting business models. An improved understanding of these dynamics would, therefore, support research efforts in disclosing the necessary considerations that can promote clients’ favourable innovation-decisions. This study echoes past calls and act as a departure point for future research to assess MMC beyond its technical attributes from a theoretical lens to better understand how construction innovations flow in the public construction sector.

With the emergence of vast technological advancements in the construction industry to address construction issues, BIM is foreseen as a potential utilization environment. To expand BIM performance in addressing contemporary construction issues, there is currently an uprising trend of plugin development. This paper reports a systematic review of BIM-based plugins, by exploring their nature, areas of application, and their implication on productivity and efficiency. Using a systematic review approach, the study narrows down vast literature and critically analyses 34 developed plugins from 34 different articles. Findings suggest that custom-build plugins are excelling in vast areas utilizing key construction processes like automation, including Health and Safety and Lifecycle assessments, as they are proven to drive productivity and efficiency towards cost and time savings as well as error minimization. Moreover, based on the commonalities between the extracted plugin systems, a framework that could facilitate a better understanding of the programming dynamics in developing BIM-based plugins is presented. Value: This paper offers future research of the insights needed to better understand the directions of BIM-based plugin development and captures BIM evolvement towards more problem-solving potentials.

The UK government is promoting the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) by presumption in favour due to outperforming traditional methods in meeting its industry goals. Despite the public construction sector’s recognition of the benefits, MMC uptake across this influential purchasing power is yet far from satisfactory. Such low adoption rates have been linked to MMC firms’ business strategies contributing to public clients’ indecision. To investigate such arguments, the study utilises a questionnaire survey and gathers responses from seventy-four decision-makers of UK-established MMC businesses. Results are then discussed in relation to the contingency theory from a Business Model Canvas (BMC) perspective, revealing the divergence between organisations outperforming others in the public sector, i.e. achieving fit. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first construction management study to empirically propose the relationships between the nine business model elements of the BMC in relation to a specific market. The findings of this paper suggest the critical role of the Target Customer element in reaching alignment with the external environment by acting as a receiver and provider of information, superseding the importance of solely focusing on communicating added values and extended capabilities. Our findings also suggest that MMC organisations outperforming others in the UK public sector are those who are understanding public clients’ needs the most, and thus, continuously changing their business strategies to sustain alignment with any change in those needs. Overall, the paper proposes a three-dimensional consideration to achieve fit, namely, 1) internal consistency of the elements (inside-out), 2), changing external environment (outside-in), and 3) relationships between the nine elements (inside-in). The study depicts the problematic nature of the internal interrelations responsible for reaching fit in the UK public sector and deepens the understanding of how the nine BMC elements are supporting more informed and strategic decisions. Therefore, decision-makers are urged to pursue alignment by assessing the contingency of each decision made with respect to the proposed influences. Future research to focus on replicating the results in accordance with other theories involving technological and organisational change, maturity, and systems theory.

The construction industry has long been perceived as reluctant to embrace change, and digital transformation is not an exception. The slow adoption rate has been linked to the perceptions of the effectiveness of construction innovations. An implied link exists between digitalisation and productivity improvements. However, such a link is yet associated with ambiguities, suggesting that the influence is not linear. Despite the very low productivity rates achieved in the construction industry, studies on the association between technology adoption and productivity-related benefits and advantages are rare, and this may be a contributing factor to the indecision of construction firms to embrace digitalisation. A systematic literature review enables scholars to disseminate past research efforts in one scholarly resource, in pursuit of new knowledge. Through systematically reviewing the literature, this study identifies, classifies, and critically analyses research efforts, aiming to shed light on the mediators of the relationship between digitalisation and productivity. Overall, sixty articles have been identified, screened, and included in this study. Productivity, in this context, is positively related to digitalization, by promoting more safety and well-being, planning enhancements, collaboration, waste reduction, employee upskilling, design enhancements, communication and knowledge transfer, and accuracy in information management. The findings also reflect the popular use of qualitative methods when studying digitalisation in the construction context, a stance that may be a reflection of a less diverse use of methodological approaches, and presents a call for more quantitative studies, to explore the relationship between digitalisation and productivity. Future research is encouraged to use this extensive review as a foundation for comparable empirical investigations, considering areas of similar interest, to accelerate the adoption of digitalisation.

Construction has long been identified as an industry resistant to change and innovation, a reality that has prevailed to shape its overall reputation. The public sector includes an influential client type that dominates the major percentage of construction demand and is subject to public law. The Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) have been championed recently by the UK government and early adopters upon the emergence of data indicating their effectiveness in addressing key construction challenges. However, the uptake of MMC has been low among UK construction clients, particularly among public client organisations. Theories emerge across decades to inform researchers of variable clusters that can aid a broader understanding of decision-making and innovation adoption. One of the popular innovation theories suggests a relation between the characteristics of decision-makers and their own innovation decisions. This paper, therefore, aims to investigate the characteristics that are responsible for public clients’ low MMC uptake despite the associated relative advantages. Overall, 91 public client organisations have responded to this research’s survey, reflecting their organisation’s characteristics in line with the constructs adapted from the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. Results suggest that among the ten influences that are captured from a detailed review of the literature, confidence in MMC firms supersedes all other factors in critically influencing the organisation’s favourable decision towards using MMC. Evidence provided in this paper suggests that a communication issue is presenting itself in the public construction sector, which is evident by the lack of confidence that public clients have in MMC businesses. This is the first study to utilise quantitative means to examine construction clients’ characteristics and relate the same to the adoption of construction innovation. Future research is encouraged to acknowledge the most influencing characteristics and detail how such knowledge can be embraced by supply to develop business models that can orchestrate better confidence in the public sector.

The existing body of knowledge on the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) reflects their benefits and relative advantages, particularly in addressing contemporary construction challenges. However, the uptake of such methods is minimal, particularly in the public construction sector. The low uptake has led MMC firms to liquidation due to the lack of an economy of scale. Studies, particularly recently, explain that the low adoption rates are linked to the inappropriateness of existing business models responsible for driving broader demand. This paper assumes that the lag in MMC adoption could be related to the ability of supply business models to communicate confidence to demand. Public clients are foreseen as important target customers, acquiring influential status across the industry, with an expected potential to drive innovation adoption across the sector. A systematic review method allows scholars to assess existing literature by critically locating and analysing relative publications to approach the study’s aim. Through utilising this method, the study classifies the arguments against the Business Model Canvas (BMC), and argues the results with respect to contingency theory, and in turn, synthesizing a new meaning that reveals the considerations needed to boost business model performance when penetrating the public sector. Hence, the critical analyses of 70 studies relative to MMC, led to proposing the contingencies that are believed to better structure business models. Results suggest that MMC firms can embrace specific reforms and gain more momentum when communicating confidence to public client organisations; however, a guideline that conceptualises the interactions between the elements and their influence on the decision-making does not exist, and this may be inhibiting coherency on how MMC businesses drive broader demand. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to utilise the contingency theory as an attempt to disseminate previous efforts to explain the low adoption of MMC in the UK public sector.

Despite the UK Government favouring modern methods of construction (MMC) and advocating their extended ability to address contemporary construction challenges, the current situation suggests that the sector has yet to achieve a sufficient economy of scale. This has led sizeable MMC businesses to experience, or to be close to experiencing, insolvency. Such events serve as the rationale for a study to investigate how MMC is perceived within the construction sector. Critics argue that MMC demands a fundamental change that has not been witnessed in construction for decades. This chapter aims to offer a scoping review to better understand how innovations transpire in complex social systems in construction. The logic flows to examining the decision-making processes of clients, which would then guide research towards the salient points where research can drive broader confidence in non-traditional ways of constructing places.

Previous studies have focused on explaining the BIM adoption or implementation, and little is known about the diffusion trend. Thus, this study evaluates the BIM diffusion process in SMEs with a predictive machine learning modelling approach using the Nigerian construction industry as a case study. Empirical questionnaire was employed for BIM diffusion data collection, and the collected data was cleaned and balanced with hybridized SMOTE +Tomek links. Ensemble machine learning algorithms were applied to the collected data to develop predictive models for the BIM diffusion process. The optimized and best-performing models were stacked via a new model (ensemble of ensembles) and deployed in an interactive Python-based Application - BIM Diffusion Prediction System (BIM-DPS) - using Streamlit framework. The most important features for BIM awareness in SMEs are observability, top management support, and normative pressure, while the top predictors of intention to adopt BIM in SMEs are compatibility, top management support, and behaviour. These sets of the same features have different impacts on awareness and adoption. Also, these features are from technology, organisation and environment contexts of the TOE framework and underscore the social-technical nature of BIM, which should be reflected in strategies to drive proliferation. The study highlights the strong predictive performance of stacked ensemble models. It provides an easy-to-use application to forecast the behaviour of firms to mitigate risks and develop tailored interventions.

The staggering demand for construction projects to meet a spectrum of public needs is projected to outstrip the industry’s supply capability. The Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), are methods that relies on shifting key construction processes offsite, a transformation from traditional practices that offers wider control, transpiring as a critical necessity. Public clients play a significant role as drivers for innovation and as the industry’s purchasing power, however, their uptake of MMC projects is still low, despite the associated benefits. The purpose of this study is to reveal the reasoning behind such low adoption. The research gap, herewith, is our lack of understanding on the perception of public clients from MMC, and how the same is contributing to their adoption’s indecision. This study utilised a qualitative approach to investigate the motives behind the public sector’s low MMC adoption. Semi-structured interviews with 14 of the United Kingdom’s public sector’s decision-makers, industry leaders, and experts have been conducted. Perspectives were argued against the Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI). Overall, the innovation’s attributes informed the authors of the positive perceptions from the public sector, demonstrating that the low adoption of MMC is not linked to any embedded issues with the innovation itself rather being predominantly related to the dynamics between supply and demand. The former (supply), reflected a failure in communicating confidence, and the latter (demand), attained characteristics that are limiting wider uptake. This is the first study to apply the Diffusion of Innovation theory to reveal the relationship between UK public clients’ perceptions and their decision-making. Moreover, this paper addresses the scant attention to the use of theories to explain the flow of innovations in the construction context.

Purpose – Construction research comprises quality contributions to the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) context in terms of their benefits and relative advantages. However, the uptake of MMC is yet deemed very low in the public sector. Knowing that public clients acquire the purchasing power and the influential status to drive industry change, understanding their low MMC uptake is necessary. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of literature has been chosen to extract the key variables contributing to the limited adoption of MMC across the public sector, reinforced by a qualitative semi-structured interview with twelve industry leaders and public clients. This methodology enables the authors to explore works from the past decade, paving a direction for an adequate empirical investigation by reviewing and critically analysing forty-nine academic articles and interviewing twelve industry leaders and public clients. Findings – The study captured and argued the characteristics that have an influence on public clients’ decision, inhibiting the extraction of values associated with greater MMC deployment. A critical analysis resulted in identifying 13 characteristics under 4 main themes, providing a new argument to existing knowledge by calling on the need to better understand public clients and the influence of their own characteristics on their MMC uptake. Originality/value – This paper utilises the Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI) which offers constructs that help explain the influence of the characteristics of a decision-making unit. Our knowledge on public construction clients is limited, and more research in this direction may help in better aggregating construction demand. Overall, arguments provided in this paper enable relative improvements in contractors’ business models when approaching the public market. The study is believed to be in support of the relative governmental efforts to shape effective policies that can enhance innovation uptake among public bodies.

Purpose Digital uptake amongst construction organisations is described as slow and ineffective, undermining a fundamental transformation and limiting construction firms from exploiting the digital benefits. In this space, meaningful research that utilises a qualitative approach in pursuit for employees' insights towards digital transformation is lacking. Such limited focus from previous efforts presents an opportunity to illuminate the determinants of an effective digital transformation that are, arguably, responsible for the status quo of low digital uptake in the construction sector. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned idea. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative approach to address the literature's digital discreetness in construction. The qualitative approach captures employees' perspectives through its unbounded characteristic of encouraging illustration and discussion. Findings This paper captures 35 digital transformation determinants under three clusters, namely, organisation related, i.e. hierarchy, size and management, people related, i.e. team orientation, training and knowledge and leadership related, i.e. awareness, attitude, approach and leaders' characteristics. Findings suggest a new set of arguments in relation to understudied factors and their influence on the digital uptake in construction organisations. Originality/value This paper offers empirical indication of the determinants believed to influence an effective digital transformation in construction organisations. Such conceptualisation is crucial and is depicted as perceived by construction employees and practitioners, which is a less biased approach than that of comparable studies that argue the viewpoints of industry leaders in isolation of other members of the hierarchy.

The recent failures and insolvencies of organisations related to the modern methods of construction (MMC) have gained increased attention and controversy across the UK construction sector. Such failures are linked to their inability to achieve an economy of scale and drive key clients to accept the MMC as an alternative to traditional methods. This paper aims to unravel whether a phenomenon of “innovation negativism” has manifested and is contributing to public clients' indecision towards broader MMC, whether this is only linked to past negative experiences formed after the Second World War or whether additional contributing reasons exist to influence adoption. This study focusses on exploring the decision-making of the UK public construction sector; therefore, this paper adopts a qualitative approach, utilising interviews with 14 carefully selected MMC experts, government advisors and public clients. The phenomenological stance adopted herewith enables the authors to make better sense of the perceptions of the interviewees, leading to the conceptualisation of the innovation negativism phenomenon. The paper identifies nine themes that may be argued to promote a profound understanding of the MMC negativism influencing public clients' decision-making. The study has found that more than just the previous negative perceptions formulated post Second World War are driving innovation negativism in the UK public sector. Notably, the emerging themes are incomprehension, lacking evidence, communication, relationship history, bad experiences, uncertainty, inadequate experimentation, the business case and localism. This study is the first construction management research that acts as a fair departure point to conceptualise the reasoning behind innovation negativism in the construction setting. Through mirroring demand's unipolarity for traditional methods, policy and decision-makers can now rely on the conceptualised reasoning to determine practical solutions to overcome clients' indecisions towards MMC.

Purpose The decisions of contractors could impact the reduction of construction carbon footprint. These decisions are linked to the belief of contractors which equally affects how they behave while delivering projects. This study aims to investigate the behavioural tendencies of contractors that could lead to carbon minimisation during the execution of construction projects. Design/methodology/approach An industry survey was performed amongst 41 UK construction professionals. Spearman’s correlation and factor analysis were used to analyse the data. Findings The result of the Spearman’s correlation gave rise to 14 contractors’ carbon reduction behaviour (CCRB) variables and their factor analysis yielded two distinct factors, namely, contractors’ consummate carbon reduction behaviour and contractors’ pragmatic carbon reduction behaviour. The findings suggest that in the UK, contractors are willing to take voluntary practical steps to decrease the carbon footprint of construction projects. Practical implications This finding might be unexpected to construction stakeholders, especially construction clients who may believe that infusing strict carbon reduction obligations in contracts is sufficient in nudging contractors to lessen the carbon impact of projects. Originality/value The study attempted to quantitatively derive CCRB, thereby extending the breadth of knowledge in the construction carbon reduction domain.

Purpose – In the past decade, transforming key processes and activities towards a more digital nature has been the focus of most industries due to the associated advantages. Despite that, organisations in the construction sector are lagging the list of early adopters. The slow rate of a fundamental digital transformation is linked to the challenges facing an effective leadership. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to shed light on the barriers to digital leadership enactment in the construction industry. Limited research has empirically analysed and discussed these barriers to explain the low transformation rate in the existing body of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – This paper empirically investigates the perspectives of construction industry professionals acquiring various roles in the industry. Overall, the study comprises the views of 38 participants, adopting a qualitative methodological approach to explore relative barriers and explain the slow digital transformation rate. Findings – Findings are grouped into five themes: leadership characteristics, management and organisational issues, resource constraints, technological issues, and risk perceptions. The findings are helpful to business leaders, researchers, trainers, and educators to develop measures to encourage leaders in the industry to be at the forefront of digital transformation in their organisations. Originality/value – Literature, however, is discreet in reflecting the challenges and barriers facing today’s leadership in facilitating digital transformation among construction stakeholders. This paper provides insights into the variables that may be undermining wider digital adoption across the construction sector’s organisations.

Due to the practical complexity and fragmented nature of the construction industry, digitalisation, like other innovations, is not easily achieved. This study aimed to explore organisational influences on digitalisation within construction firms. Due to the practical complexity and fragmented nature of the construction industry, digitalisation, like other innovations, is not easily achieved. This study aimed to explore organisational influences on digitalisation within construction firms. Construction professionals from twenty-two organisations provided their perspectives on digital transformation and their organisations. Under four constructs- structure, culture, leadership, and internal processes, findings uncovered sixteen determinants critical to digitalisation in construction firms. The study offers a offers a theoretical perspective supported by empirical data to explore the complex dynamics and internal interactions of organisational influence on the uptake of digitalisation in the construction industry. This paper offers arguments from a theoretical lens by applying the organisational influence model and capturing the variables under each construct in an exploratory manner to highlight the reasoning behind the low digital uptake in construction firms. This research aids academia and practice on the pressure points responsible for enhancing, or undermining, digital uptake in construction firms at an organisational level.