Digitisation in the South African Construction Industry: Recurring Challenges

In an era dominated by technology, the construction industry is not exempt to this. The implementation of digitisation in the construction industry has potential to bring significant advancements in agile and flexible operations and sustainability. However, the industry faces challenges that have the potential to impede the successful adoption of this megatrend. This research aims to explore the challenges encountered by the South African construction industry when implementing digitisation. This study followed a quantitative approach in which the primary data was collected with the use of questionnaires whereby a Google Form was shared with construction professionals; while secondary data focused on literature review in which scholarly works from journals, books and conference proceedings was used. The findings of this study suggest that lack of employee readiness, lack of training, absence of senior management support, resistance to change, absence of educational programs for digitisation and outdated employment policies are the top challenges hindering the successful implementation of digitisation. These findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge about digitisation, but also sheds a multifaceted light in assisting policymakers to shape regulatory frameworks that are able to enable digitisation. Furthermore, industry stakeholders will become aware of the challenges and means of mitigating the challenges.