What drives technology adaptation in construction firms? : an investigation of the antecedents, adaptive behaviours, and outcomes

Abstract

Stakeholders in construction have recognised the inevitability of change in construction processes. One of such major causes of change is the introduction of new and advanced technologies. This is due to the current push for digitalisation, dynamic workforce, international competition, health and safety issues, complex work environments, productivity risks, and the ageing of skilled workers. Besides the poor collaboration among stakeholders and the cost of implementing new technologies, there is a broad-based debate on employees’ resistance to change in the construction sector, which impedes the implementation of new technologies. Research on construction technologies rarely focuses on the social behaviours of employees who are required to adjust to technological changes. Since technologies will continuously evolve, the question then becomes, what are the adaptive behaviours of employees in situations of technological change? And what drives those adaptive behaviours in construction organisations. The reactions of workers to the adoption of new technology are essential to construction organisations to successfully implement changes to increase productivity and gain a competitive advantage. The research study employs a sequential-dependent mixed-method approach involving an exploratory qualitative study and a questionnaire survey. The research was conducted in four different construction contractor organisations undergoing various technological changes. The first phase involved semi-structured interviews in exploring the adaptive behaviours of employees in situations of technological change. The resulting hypotheses were tested with 104 construction practitioners and analysed using a combination of principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The study extended the individual adaptability (I-Adapt) theory by incorporating constructs from the organisation, team, and individual levels that affect employees’ ability to adapt to new technologies. The research hypothesised that individuals showing higher levels of the predictor variables would show higher levels of adaptation to technology leading to better behavioural outcomes. Evidence is presented that openness, team support, transformational leadership, learning goal orientation, organisational structure, and performance systems positively predict adaptive behaviours towards technological change. In addition, it was identified that employees with higher levels of adaptation exhibited higher technological self-efficacy with an increase in their behavioural intentions to use technologies. Employees value proposition moderated the relationship between their experience and the effort put into learning and training. The study also demonstrated that older professionals showed low adaptive behaviours compared to younger employees. Employees who perceive technological changes as challenging demonstrated higher levels of behavioural intentions than those who considered change as stressful. Most variables related to successful adaptation to technology are under the control of construction organisations, so facilitating technological changes is not an impossible task.