Harnessing 4IR/5IR technologies for improved procurement and delivery

Efforts towards the adoption of 4IR/5IR technologies in the construction industry have been widely reported in extant literature. However, it appears that these efforts are mostly at embryonic levels. As such, the impact of such adoption is yet to be fully felt by relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, studies focusing on the utility of extant 4IR/5IR technologies in specifically tackling the challenges bedevilling the procurement and subsequent delivery of construction projects appear limited. Introductory examples are briefly provided of some of these 4IR/5IR technologies, their uses and potential uses, such as in artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing/3-D printing, big data, blockchain, unmanned aerial vehicles, virtual/augmented/mixed reality, Internet of Things, and smart contracts. As a contribution towards bridging this gap, this study uses a systematic literature review to catalogue narratives relating to the deployment of 4IR/5IR technologies to enhance construction procurement and delivery performance. Data were elicited from a sample of highly cited (>50 citations) peer-reviewed publications (n = 18) published between 2011 and 2023 as extracted from the Scopus database. Findings from the thematic analysis that ensued indicate that whereas an increase in the number of studies focusing on the use of 4IR/5IR technologies across the construction project lifecycle was observed in the construction management literature, detailed narratives concerning their actual deployment towards resolving challenges confronting specific construction procurement pathways were rather limited. This also suggests a need for more case studies that may redress this shortage.