Case Study

Cloud Computing Adoption in the Construction Industry of

Singapore: Drivers, Challenges, and Strategies
Daeyoun Won 1; Bon-Gang Hwang, M.ASCE 2; and Nur Khairunnisa Binte Mohd Samion 3
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Abstract: Fragmented knowledge in the construction industry is impeding project operation and success. With useful information and
communication technology, the industry can integrate such fragmented knowledge and increase its performance, leading to successful project
execution. Strategic implementation of digital technologies such as cloud computing (CC) has provided organizations with enhanced col-
laboration and communication opportunities. However, limited research has attempted to understand the status quo of CC adoption from the
perspectives of the drivers, challenges, and strategies, which would optimize the adoption process and facilitate its successful implementation
in the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap with the following research objectives: (1) derive drivers, challenges, and
strategies for CC adoption, (2) investigate and analyze the status of CC adoption in the construction industry, and (3) propose feasible
recommendations to enhance the CC adoption in the construction industry. To achieve these goals, 9 drivers, 12 challenges, and 7 strategies
relevant to the construction industry were identified through a comprehensive literature review, followed by a structured questionnaire survey
administered to industry practitioners in the construction industry. Further analyses were conducted to determine if organization size,
respondent’s experience, and respondent’s role influence the drivers, challenges, and strategies, followed by postinterviews conducted to
echo the analysis results, and the outcomes could advocate the reliability of the findings from this study. The findings are worthy of note and
contribute to the body of knowledge in the sense that this study made a novel effort to firstly examine the perceptions of practitioners on the
drivers, challenges, and strategies for CC adoption, including the status quo of its implementation. The assessed CC adoption status serves as
a starting point of sustainable development for the industry to reap the benefits throughout the project life cycle. Furthermore, this study
provides a guide for construction companies in adopting CC technology, which has shown great potential in improving the building and
construction industries’ performance and sustainability. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0001001. © 2021 American Society of Civil
Engineers.
Author keywords: Digital technology; Information and communication technology; Cloud computing (CC); Technology adoption;
Construction industry; Singapore.

Introduction has also shifted such work practices to innovative approaches that
are necessary to facilitate new and creative alternatives in organiz-
Innovation and sustainability are essential in the technology indus- ing and operating such organizations (Lu et al. 2015).
try because they affect business communication and result in ever- Several studies have addressed information technology (IT)
changing landscapes (Chesher and Kaura 2012). With a useful adoption implications in the construction industry, which includes
communication tool, an organization can perform tasks on time the study having identified the positive and negative factors of
and accomplish more. The convenience of digitally storing data and adopting robotics and automation technology in the US through
files enables documentation to be readily available (Inglis et al. semistructured interviews (Bademosi and Issa 2021). Hasan et al.
2003). The rise of information and communications technology (2019) empirically investigated the consequences of using mobile
(ICT) offers tremendous opportunities for improving communica- IT and how the use the technology can ultimately affect construc-
tion to enhance the effectiveness of construction processes and cre- tion productivity. Based on the necessity of IT in the construction
ate business innovations (Peansupap and Walker 2005). Strategic industry, some studies also proposed a decision-making frame-
adoption of ICT has not only enhanced the work practices of the work to aid in the technology adoption (Nnaji et al. 2019, 2020).
architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries, but it Moreover, some case studies were conducted for understanding the
behavioral logic of IT adoption (Wang et al. 2020) and implemen-
1
Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
tation process (Sepasgozar et al. 2018). Nevertheless, recent studies
Seoul National Univ., 1 Gwanak-ro, Seoul 08826, South Korea. ORCID: have shown that the construction industry has yet to entirely adopt
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1843-4379. Email: [email protected] the concept of IT due to various barriers (Peansupap and Walker
2 2006; Kamar et al. 2009; Alaghbandrad et al. 2011).
Professor, Dept. of Building, School of Design and Environment,
National Univ. of Singapore, 4 Architecture Dr., Singapore 117566 In Singapore, the Construction Industry Transformation Map
(corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9034-2033. (CITM) that was rolled out by the government calls for a digital
Email: [email protected] revolution through the advent of smart buildings, new construc-
3
Technical Officer, Dept. Monitoring and Evaluation, SDK Consortium, tion technologies, and digitalized work processes (BCA 2019a).
300A Woodlands Ave. 1, Singapore 739071. Email: [email protected]
Digitalized work processes fully integrate the processes and stake-
Note. This manuscript was submitted on July 21, 2021; approved on
October 11, 2021; published online on December 3, 2021. Discussion per- holders along the value chain through advanced ICT and smart
iod open until May 3, 2022; separate discussions must be submitted for technologies (BCA 2018). This digital push encourages the stream-
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Management in lining of work processes and connecting stakeholders across the
Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 0742-597X. project life cycle from design, construction, and fabrication to

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 facilities management. Otherwise, the blurred lines between physi- Literature Review
cal and digital spheres resulting from the fusion of technologies
have created a new practice that is referred to as cyber-physical A literature review was conducted extensively to derive and high-
systems. A critical tool that exists within these systems is cloud light the CC drivers, challenges, and strategies that are practiced
computing (CC). The role of CC technology in cyber-physical sys- in different industries, and was not only limited to the construction
tems (CPS) is that of a centralized platform that serves as a link industry. Using the keywords of cloud computing and technology
between the physical system and the cyber system (Guo et al. adoption in the construction industry, the literature was searched
2015). A series of actions such as transmission, reception, storage, through the search engines of Google and Google scholar. As a
and processing of data acquired from the physical system is per- result, over 100 publications were reviewed, of which 26 publica-
formed in CC, followed by the processed data (information) ex- tions from 12 journals, 3 publishers, and 2 government institu-
pressed in the cyber system (Zhang et al. 2015). At this time, tions were finally utilized to derive CC drivers, challenges, and
the user can decide with the information reflected in the physical strategies.
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system through CC (Simmon et al. 2015). A total of 9 drivers, 12 challenges, and 7 strategies factors were
Although it is not a novel idea, CC aims to interconnect vast identified, which were further reviewed and validated by industry
computers through a real-time network that provides utility-based practitioners. Additionally, it was found through the literature re-
IT services (Shyam and Chandrakar 2018). From a business per- view that the study of CC adoption in the Singaporean construc-
spective, CC can offer both IT efficiency and business agility to tion industry is limited. Therefore, additional references were
respond in real-time to the user’s requirements (Marston et al. considered regarding the adoption of CC technology in other indus-
2011). CC is a technology to access computational services offered tries as well as in other countries with similar demographics to
on the internet, including computing resource services, soft appli- Singapore’s, such as Malaysia and India.
cations of distributed systems, and data storage (Low et al. 2011).
In general, CC service is referred to as software, platform, and in-
Drivers in CC Adoption
frastructure, which is broken into infrastructure as a service, plat-
form as a service, and software as a service (Amarnath et al. 2011). The Singapore government has played a crucial role in the techno-
In this study, the adoption of CC is defined as introducing such a logical push of organizations. Besides the government’s efforts,
service to a company. the drivers to encourage such technology adoption are the organ-
The nature of the construction industry is often viewed as ization’s needs and aims. Table 1 lists the factors that could drive
conceptually fragmented when compared with other industries CC adoption in contractor companies. Regarding the Government
(Amarnath et al. 2011). In general, a construction project involves Plans and Policies Initiatives, the CITM in 2018 includes the gov-
a design and construction phase, followed by the operation and ernment’s outlook on Singapore’s construction industry in the com-
maintenance phases after the project’s completion. Information and ing years (BCA 2019a). The CITM’s focus is based on the global
data shared within each phase influence the project’s progress trend to stimulate a digital revolution in the construction industry.
and its quality (Goulding et al. 2014). Errors that could arise due Other than the CITM, the small to medium-sized enterprises
to design flaws, if not acted on promptly, could result in a waste (SMEs) Go Digital program introduced in early 2019 is a
of resources in the following phases (Hong et al. 2016). Strategic government initiative that aims to help SMEs build a robust digital
implementation of CC has provided contractors with enhanced col- capability to seize opportunities for growth in the current digital
laboration and communication opportunities. Provided the nature economy. SMEs can tap into the funds that are available as they
of the project is suitable, such as that of a large-scale project, CC search for solutions to funding support (Lee 2019).
can serve as a centralized platform for collaborative design for Likewise, Technology Advancement has been used by businesses
engineers and architects (Amarnath et al. 2011). to facilitate decision-making processes (Gatautis and Vitkauskaitė
Organizations are aware of the benefits that CC provides and its 2009). However, businesses, such as SMEs, have to follow the latest
capabilities as the enabler in Singapore’s Smart Nation plan (Ng advancements carefully to be more competitive and productive
2018). Additionally, the efforts to push for digitalization are fo- (Boychev 2014). Moving to cloud technology is an innovative sol-
cused on utilizing integrated digital delivery, where CC technology ution that facilitates the development of tools that allow organiza-
has a crucial role. The government hopes to fully integrate building tions to increase productivity and perform tasks on time.
processes and stakeholders to transform the way buildings are de- Regarding the Decreased Reliance on Labor driver, the cost of
veloped. Thus, movements to promote the adoption of IT, such as labor is expected to remain high in Singapore because of the shrink-
CC, in the construction industry are highly active in Singapore. ing workforce and drop in foreign employment (Pheng and Chuan
However, there is limited research that attempts to understand 2001; Boon et al. 2018). As a result, the construction industry has
the state of CC adoption from a comprehensive perspective, con- to seek innovative technological solutions that assist and encourage
sidering what factors influence the introduction of CC into the con- a reduced dependence on manual labor while increasing productiv-
struction industry, what are the challenges to promoting it, and what ity. According to a publication by the Centre for Liveable Cities
are the strategies for promoting the adoption of CC. To address the Singapore (2015), the scale and complexity of construction have
issues regarding the necessities and limited studies about CC adop- increased tremendously over the years. The industry’s focus has
tion and to promote its successful adoption in Singapore’s construc- shifted from the need to obtain enough manual labor to using tech-
tion industry, it is essential to identify the drivers, challenges, and nology and labor-saving initiatives. This shift is considered neces-
strategies that optimize the adoption process. Therefore, this study sary because the industry faces new challenges, such as the increase
investigated the perceptions of professionals in Singapore’s con- in land, workforce, and construction materials costs that come as a
struction industry concerning the drivers, challenges, and strategies result of Singapore’s growth and development.
in CC adoption. In particular, the research objectives were to (1) de- Additionally, the adoption of such cloud technology early on in
rive the drivers, challenges, and strategies for CC adoption, (2) in- the business, especially for SMEs, would provide for a more sub-
vestigate and analyze the status of CC adoption in the construction stantial competitiveness (Boychev 2014). Moreover, the adoption
industry, and (3) propose feasible recommendations to enhance the of CC in organizations would provide an edge by forging business
CC adoption in the construction industry. relationships and long-term alliances that allow the business to stay

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 Table 1. Drivers in CC adoption
No. Driver Description References
1 Government plans and The Singapore government aims to fully integrate the processes Lin et al. (2017)
policies initiative along the value chain with advanced technologies such as CC
technology.
2 Technology The advancement in technology has facilitated the development Peansupap and Walker (2005);
advancement of tools that allow organizations to perform tasks on time as well Taherdoost (2018)
as achieving even more.
3 Decreased reliance on Labor cost is expected to remain high with the increasing cost of Pheng and Chuan (2001)
labor construction materials, which influences tender prices during
project procurement. The use of cloud technology would
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encourage a reduced dependence on manual labor while

increasing productivity.
4 Competitiveness Forging relationships and long-term alliances allow for the Love et al. (2002)
business to stay ahead of its competitors.
5 Project life cycle Streamlining work processes and connecting stakeholders across Shyam and Chandrakar (2018);
management the project life cycle. The storage of information and data on the BCA (2019b)
cloud and on a real-time network allows businesses to have
access to such information and data no matter where they are.
6 Systematic project Systematic project management reduces the chances of errors Amarnath et al. (2011);
management that would potentially result in a waste of resources. Where the Goulding et al. (2014); Hong
nature of the construction industry is often viewed as et al. (2016)
conceptually fragmented, enabling information and data
accessible in real-time would influence the project’s progress
and its quality.
7 Workplace safety and Information and data management is being universalized, which Pheng and Chuan (2001);
health enables identifying hazards and promoting workplace safety and Izvercian et al. (2013); Cioca
health. and Ivascu (2014)
8 Sustainable data Reduced paper load and reliance on hard-copied information. Dastbaz et al. (2015)
management
9 Business continuity The reliable and scalable storage nature of CC offers quick Matar and Imad Fakhri (2016)
access to storage infrastructure by web services and
high-performance computing.

ahead of its competitors as per Singapore’s Smart Nation plan. efficiently to ensure Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) through
Therefore, it is envisaged that 70% of Singapore companies the information that has been fed into the cloud system. According
plan to adopt CC regardless of the industry (Singapore Business to Martínez-Rojas et al. (2016), related information on construction
Review 2011). safety is often not shared, even among project staff, threatening
It is undeniable that the construction industry is perceived as workforce safety. The strategic adoption of CC and its implemen-
mostly fragmented in terms of Project Life Cycle Management. tation in construction projects enables effective information sharing
Extensive information and data are transferred between processes among the stakeholders.
and stakeholders to ensure the proper delivery of the project. The Greater awareness of the environment has caused construction
use of CC would streamline these work processes and connect companies to be more sustainable and eco-friendly regarding their
stakeholders across the project life cycle: design phase, construc- data management (Flammer 2013). Sustainable Data Management
tion phase, operation phase, and maintenance phase after the proj- has reduced paper consumption as well as reliance on hard-copy
ect’s completion (Deloitte 2014). The storage of information and information, with soft-copy information that can be accessed any-
data on the cloud and real-time networks allows businesses to have time and anywhere with the use of technological devices that offer
access to such information and data from anywhere (Shyam and real-time viewing (Konstantinos 2015). Moreover, having an ap-
Chandrakar 2018). propriate business continuity plan (BCP) through proper manage-
The success of a construction project can influence the reputa- ment is vital for every business or organization in the survival
tion of the organizations involved. Systematic Project Management against threats. For Business Continuity, the reliable and scalable
encompasses the effectiveness and efficiency of project manage- storage nature of CC has been considered as a promising tech-
ment, which are influenced by the implementation of a system- nology that offers quick access to storage infrastructure by web
atic and standardized project management system (Guzmán et al. services and high-performance computing (Matar and Imad Fakhri
2016). Because CC can provide information sharing among stake- 2016).
holders, it could reduce the chances of errors that would potentially
result in a waste of resources. A proper systematic design for
data collection and real-time information accessibility would pos- Challenges in CC Adoption
itively influence a project’s progress and its quality. Furthermore, A challenge in CC adoption is defined as the factor that be-
identification of hazards can be performed more effectively and comes an obstacle when adopting CC technology. According to

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 Table 2. Challenges of CC adoption
No. Challenges Description References
1 Organization size Compared with large companies, SMEs face constraints of Love et al. (2002)
resources such as funding and workforce.
2 Top management support If top management is resistant to adopt new technology, it will Premkumar and Potter
negatively influence the organization, which causes a lack of (1995)
motivation and implementation efforts.
3 Lack of staff expertise Getting people who are competent in new technology will be Lin et al. (2017)
required to take up additional job scopes beyond the capabilities
of the existing staff. Especially, there is a shortage of personnel
within the SME organizations.
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4 Intellectual property rights The design and development of the model, copyright on the Lin et al. (2017)
design, as well as confidentiality of data and information about
the project are required.
5 Risk ownership Responsibility for any possible errors if they are shared or Lin et al. (2017)
transferred to the owner.
6 Complexity of new New technologies may not be as user-friendly or easy to use, Alshamaila et al. (2013)
technology which decreases the adoption rate because people are reluctant.
7 Interface issues Issues of compatibility and the need to transfer models from an Lin et al. (2017)
earlier version of the software to a new version could lead to
significant downtime and compromise productivity.
8 Lack awareness of the The benefits of adopting CC systems are not clear and the Lin et al. (2017);
relative advantage opinion is that the existing infrastructure is satisfactory to meet Alshamaila et al. (2013)
their business operation needs.
9 Sensitivity of data Level of security of where data is stored. The uncertainty of the Moravčík et al. (2017)
exact location of the data storage.
10 Large initial cost A great deal of commitment will be required in terms of time, Lin et al. (2017); Thong
training, and equipment. et al. (1996)
11 Maintenance cost Retraining of staff, the constant need to upgrade technological Lin et al. (2017)
skills, and maintenance of servers can be an overbudget cost.
12 Lack of standards Lack of standards raises issues of interoperability and Moravčík et al. (2017)
manageability among different stakeholders.

Lin et al. (2017), the challenges that contractor firms face in adopt- such resources is the catalyst to create a more conducive environ-
ing CC can be categorized into (1) a multidisciplinary approach, ment for implementation (Thong et al. 1996).
(2) uncertainties in legal responsibilities, and (3) technical issues.
The complexity of adopting new technology could be the reason
for the low adoption in SMEs. Adopting such technology may Strategies to Motivate CC Adoption
“confront SMEs with challenges in terms of changing the processes After conducting an extensive literature review, seven strategies
in which they may interact with their business systems” (Parisot that could motivate the adoption of CC in Singapore’s contractor
1995). The 12 challenges in the adoption of CC retrieved from the companies were identified (summarized in Table 3). Distinct Adop-
literature are summarized in Table 2. tion Expectations is a clearly defined advantage that will provide
According to a survey from the Experian Credit Services the organization with clear and distinct expectations, which is in-
Singapore Pte (2018), half of all SMEs experience challenges in fluenced by the top management’s attitude toward CC adoption
managing cash flow, liquidity, and credit risk for the year ahead. (Lin et al. 2017). This strategy could be transferred to the com-
In comparison with large contractor firms, SMEs face difficulties pany’s goal to sustain firm operations in the current competitive
adopting CC into their business practices due to resource con- market. Clear Direction of Action was highlighted as a challenge
straints, such as funding and human resources. Because of such where negative top management support would lead to a negative
limitations, SMEs, by default, lack collaborative capabilities (Love outlook on the adoption of CC in the organization. Hence, where
et al. 2002). Therefore, support from top management for the adop- the top management is supportive of the adoption, a designed pro-
tion of CC could be a crucial factor that influences the level of im- gram will guide and provide the organization with clear and logical
plementation of such systems. According to Thong et al. (1996), processes from the start through to the end of implementation
top management has the authority to influence members of the (Adane 2018).
business and are more likely to succeed in overcoming any form The Cooperation between Different Organizations strategy re-
of organizational resistance toward the acceptance of such imple- fers to organizations complementing each other and specializing
mentation. Successful implementation is achievable should suffi- to overcome prevalent problems, hence obtaining a collective
cient organizational resources be directed toward motivating and efficiency and penetrating markets that could be beyond their
sustaining the implementation effort. The sufficient allocation of individual reach (Adane 2018). Willingness to Change is the

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 Table 3. Strategies for promoting CC adoption
No. Strategy Description References
1 Distinct adoption Clearly defining the organization’s competitive advantage Lin et al. (2017)
expectations in order to sustain itself in the current competitive market.
2 Clear direction of action With the support of top management, design a program that will guide Barney (2014);
and provide the organization with clear and logical processes from the Adane (2018)
start to end of implementation.
3 Cooperation between A combination of firms with a shared focus that will complement each Adane (2018)
different organizations other and specialize in order to overcome prevalent problems, hence
obtaining a collective efficiency and penetrate markets that could be
beyond their reach individually.
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4 Willingness to change The responsiveness and flexibility of an organization to respond to Alshamaila

changes that can come in the form of opportunities and threats. The rate et al. (2013)
of responsiveness to changing situations is critical for competitive
advantage.
5 Larger awareness to SMEs can take advantage of government incentives that are available to Ministry of
government incentives them as a way to encourage CC adoption within the organization. Finance (2019)
6 Reduce capital expenditure By having a third party control the organization’s IT infrastructure, this Alshamaila
could reduce expenditure to maintain such infrastructure, yet maximize et al. (2013)
the asset utilization.
7 Standards for cloud The availability of standards to regulate the use of CC in order to raise Branco et al.
computing user confidence. (2017)

responsiveness and flexibility of an organization to respond to computing resources that, especially for SMEs, would enable a
changes, which can come in the form of opportunities and threats. faster market entrance without the need to produce significant
The rate of responsiveness to changing situations is critical for upfront capital investments. Standards for cloud computing have
competitive advantage. The willingness of organizations to adopt yet to be fully unified and standardized (Moravčík et al. 2017).
new technologies is based on the innovativeness of the decision- The lack of standards governing this new IT industry has resulted
maker as well as the organizational strategy that is in place in the low confidence of users. However, with more standardization
(Alshamaila et al. 2013). Regarding the Larger Awareness of bodies coming forward to ensure standards are rolled out for CC,
Government Incentives, the Singapore government has set aside SMEs and large enterprises should have the assurances required to
additional funds to assist SMEs in their new technology adoption encourage information and data storage.
quests through the SMEs Go Digital program. Therefore, SMEs
can take advantage of government incentives that are available to
them as a way to encourage CC adoption (Lee 2019). Methods and Data Collection
By having a third party control the organization’s IT infra-
structure, the expenditure to maintain such infrastructure could As shown in Fig. 1, the factors of drivers, challenges, and strate-
be reduced and the asset utilization maximized. According to gies were derived through a literature review, and based on
Alshamaila et al. (2013), CC offers organizations a vast pool of this, questionnaire development and surveys were conducted for

Research objective Method Research outcome

(1)
• Drivers in CC adoption
To derive the drivers,
• Literature review • Challenges in CC adoption
challenges, and strategies for
• Strategies in CC adoption
CC adoption

(2) • Survey questionnaire

To investigate and analyze development and data • Survey questionnaire
the status of CC adoption collection • Analysis results
in the construction industry • Statistical analysis

(3)
To propose feasible
• Post-interviews with • Discussion of the results
recommendations to enhance
the analysis results • Recommendations
the CC adoption in the
construction industry

Fig. 1. Research framework.

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 practitioners. Besides, feasible recommendations were proposed to Table 5. Demographics of respondents’ organizations
enhance the construction industry’s CC adoption through statistical Respondents Frequency Percentage
analysis of survey results and postinterviews.
Organization size
Large enterprises 27 36.0
Survey Questionnaire Development SMEs 48 64.0
Based on the literature review, a total of 9 drivers, 12 challenges, Experience
and 7 strategies for CC adoption in construction companies were Fewer than 20 years 64 85.3
identified. The factors presented were gathered from an extensive More than 20 years 11 14.7
literature review and were validated by industry professionals to Role in organization
determine their relevance. An online survey questionnaire was Project administrators 21 28.0
composed to demonstrate the perceptions of Singapore’s construc- Engineer 11 14.7
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tion professionals based on these factors. Preceding the distribution Director 5 6.7
of the survey questionnaire, industry practitioners reviewed the BIM modeler 11 14.7
survey questionnaire to test its validity and relevance. Singapore Drafter 11 14.7
construction industry professionals with more than 10 years of Contract manager 11 14.7
experience and good knowledge of CC were consulted. They all Supervisor 5 6.7
anonymously agree with each factor’s relevance and validity. There Experience
were only minor modifications to the wording. Their feedback was 0 to 10 years 48 64.0
considered, and the relevant changes were made. Fewer than 10 years 27 36.0
The main survey questionnaire was composed using an online Total 75 100.0
survey platform, which was chosen to allow convenient access with
a link that was provided to participants. The first three sections of
the survey were designed to gather information on respondents’
demographics and organization profiles. The fourth section of the contacted (BCA 2019c). Among the 296 organizations contacted,
survey focused on the organization’s CC implementation status. 75 companies responded, resulting in a response rate of 25.3%. The
Additionally, the last three sections of the survey listed the 9 profile of the participant organizations is summarized in Table 5,
drivers, 12 challenges, and 7 strategies in the adoption of CC. The ensuring a balanced and reliable output with high validity.
respondents were asked to rate each factor according to a five-point SMEs made up 64.0% of the responses represented by Grade B2
Likert scale (Table 4). Firstly, respondents were asked to provide a to C3 companies. Similarly, a total of 27 (36.0%) large enterprises
rating based on the level of importance of drivers that could influ- represented by Grade A1 to B1 contractors participated in the sur-
ence organizations in adopting CC. The respondents were also vey. Most of the respondents’ organizations (85.3%) had fewer than
asked to check the level of impact and likelihood of challenges that 20 years of experience, which means the majority of the respond-
could hinder an organization’s decision to adopt CC. Lastly, the ents were relatively new firms in the industry. The demographics
strategies were rated based on the respondent’s experience. Each of the survey respondents consisted of 21 project administrators
factor was rated by the importance of each strategy. (28.0%), 11 engineers (14.67%), 5 directors (6.67%), 11 BIM mod-
elers (14.67%), 11 contract managers (14.67%), and 5 supervisors
Data Collection (6.67%), as summarized in Table 5. Each respondent’s role and
years of experience in their current organization and in the industry
A survey was conducted to investigate the CC adoption status in the
are also given.
construction industry. The targeted respondents were SME contrac-
Additionally, postinterviews were conducted with three indus-
tors and large companies under the Building and Construction
try professionals after the data from the main survey were analyzed.
Authority (BCA) Contractors Registration System. The BCA regis-
All of them had 10 or more years of experience working in the
try contains a total of 1,598 contractors that are classified under
construction industry. With their years of experience, they were
Grade B2 and below, which have both paid-up capital and a net
able to provide insights into the changes that the industry has
worth below S$3 million (BCA 2019c). A total of 189 out of
undergone with the introduction of IT. Their opinions further
the 1,598 contractors were randomly contacted to participate in
validated the results and provided a deeper understanding of the
the survey questionnaire, whereas 107 out of 204 contractors were
importance of the drivers, challenges, and strategies in CC adop-
from large enterprises. In addition, a total of 107 out of 204 con-
tractors from Grade A1 to B1 that have both minimum paid-up tion. The interviews allowed the exploration of reasons for the dif-
capital and a minimum net worth over S$3 million were randomly ferences in perceptions associated with CC based on the different
contractor companies and respondents’ roles.

Table 4. Five-point Likert scale for rating CC drivers, challenges, and

Data Analysis and Discussion
strategy
Five- CC challenge This section reviews and analyzes the survey data collected. The
point results provided a deeper understanding of the current implemen-
Likert Level of Magnitude of tation status of CC for Singapore’s contractors, both for SMEs and
scale CC driver likelihood impact CC strategy large companies. First, to test the normality of the data, the Shapiro-
1 Least important Least likely Insignificant Least important Wilk test was conducted to determine the distribution of the survey
2 Less important Less likely Minor Less important data. The later sections include the analysis of the drivers, chal-
3 Neutral Neutral Moderate Neutral lenges, and strategies for CC adoption to establish the differences
4 More important More likely Major More important among the firm sizes, the respondents’ roles, and the number of
5 Most important Most likely Severe Most important
years of experience in their organization through several statistical

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 methods, such as the Mann-Whitney U-test (Mann and Whitney adoption in Singapore as well as the drivers, challenges, and strat-
1947) and Kruskal-Wallis test (Kruskal and Wallis 1952). egies, which is the aim of this study.

Normality Test Drivers in Adopting CC

Data normality is determined to provide an insight into the selec- This section explores how CC drivers have an impact on CC adop-
tion of data analysis methods to be conducted. If the variable is tion. The drivers were analyzed and presented according to organi-
normally distributed, parametric statistics can be used based on the zation size, experience in the construction industry, respondent’s
assumption of normality.’ The Shapiro-Wilk test was conducted on role, and experience in their role. The means of the drivers and
distributions of the responses were analyzed and discussed. The
the data set to determine the distribution because this has been
Mann-Whitney U-test was applied to examine whether each factor
found to be the most powerful test as it is the ratio of two estimates
of the drivers, challenges, and strategies would differ based on
of the variance of normal distribution based on a random sample
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the organization size and experience in the industry. Similarly, a

of n (Shapiro and Wilk 1965). The null hypothesis and alternative
Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to test an intergroup comparison
hypothesis are as follows:
that checks the differences that lie within the different roles. Table 6
H0 : The data are normally distributed.
summarizes the results of the three tests regarding CC drivers.
H1 : The data are not normally distributed.
After the means of the drivers were computed, D7: Workplace
A significance level (α) of 0.05 was used to assess the hypoth-
Safety and Health, D8: Sustainable Data Management, and D9:
eses. The analysis of all drivers, challenges, and strategies shows
Business Continuity emerged as the top three drivers in organiza-
that every p-value of each factor is 0.000, which is less than 0.05,
tions adopting CC. Regarding D7: WSH, the construction industry
confirming that the data significantly deviate from a normal distri-
is perceived as a dangerous industry, and constant progress in WSH
bution. As a result, nonparametric methods were used to conduct
performance is required to ensure excellent site safety. In this con-
further data analysis.
text, the Singapore government has implemented firmer WSH prac-
tices to achieve the highest standard set of having the world’s safest
Adoption Rates of CC and healthiest workplaces (Seow 2019). Through the Ministry of
Manpower, the government has accepted the proposal of creating
This section provides an insight from the sample of the contractor a 10-year strategy on WSH practices, which aims to enhance the
companies that have opted to implement CC into their organiza- focus on WSH and increase the use of technology (Seow 2019).
tions in Singapore. CC adoption status in SMEs and large contrac- In this context, CC can provide organizations with a collaborative
tor firms were explored and compared with each other. Precisely framework for WSH through its centralized storage nature, fewer
68.75% of SME contractors have adopted CC in their companies, visibility barriers, and opportunities to establish simplified and
and 77.78% of the large firms utilized CC technology in their com- standardized processes by integrating CC into WSH processes
panies. Overall, 72% of the total sample in this survey applied CC (Izvercian et al. 2013; Cioca and Ivascu 2014; Zou et al. 2017).
in their companies. This adoption rate highlights that Singapore’s D8: Sustainable Data Management was classified as one of the
construction industry has been actively using CC technology com- top three drivers. The construction industry is often regarded as an
pared with other industries and countries worldwide that are em- industry that has a significant environmental impact (Ortiz et al.
bracing CC. 2009; Shen and Tam 2002; Eras et al. 2013). However, the adoption
For example, 26% of European Union enterprises used CC in of CC would enable a more sustainable approach toward its data
2018, mostly for email and storage of files, with the highest adop- management with the reduction of paper waste, which is further
tion rate being 65.3% in Finland (Kaminska and Smihily 2018; Vu highlighted by the cause of corporate social responsibility (Dastbaz
et al. 2020). In the industrial sectors, however, the adoption rate et al. 2015). Innovative technological systems could bring about the
was the highest in the IT sector (64%) but less than 25% in the realization of sustainability, which would, in addition, result in op-
construction and manufacturing sectors (Vu et al. 2020). This also timized performance and a cleaner production process (Waga 2013;
implies that although the Singaporean construction industry is cur- Konstantinos 2015; Deakin and Reid 2018).
rently somewhat advanced in adopting CC technology, at this point, Similarly, D9: Business Continuity was also found to be a top
it would be timely and meaningful to grasp the current level of CC driver. Having a suitable BCP is fundamental in every business or

Table 6. Results of the tests: CC drivers

p-value
Mann-Whitney U-test Mann-Whitney U-test Kruskal-Wallis
No. Driver Mean Rank (organization size) (experience) (respondent’s roles)
D1 Government plans and 3.85 5 0.066 0.000a 0.000a
policies initiative
D2 Technology advancement 3.69 8 0.850 0.000a 0.000a
D3 Decreased reliance on labor 2.45 9 0.002a 0.002a 0.002a
D4 Competitiveness 3.85 5 0.066 0.000a 0.000a
D5 Project life cycle management 3.72 7 0.854 0.000a 0.000a
D6 Systematic project management 4.01 4 0.854 0.000a 0.000a
D7 Workplace safety and health 4.16b 1 0.019a 0.000a 0.000a
D8 Sustainable data management 4.15b 2 0.066 0.000a 0.000a
D9 Business continuity 4.15b 2 0.066 0.000a 0.000a
a
p-value < 0.05.
b
Top three drivers.

© ASCE 05021017-7 J. Manage. Eng.

J. Manage. Eng., 2022, 38(2): 05021017

 organization in the survival against threats (Low et al. 2010; Mano Mann-Whitney U-test was conducted. The null hypothesis and
et al. 2012). To establish an appropriate BCP, the trustworthy and alternative hypothesis are as follows:
ascendable depository nature of CC has been regarded as an auspi- H 0 : The factor has the same impact on CC adoption by expe-
cious technology offering quick data access infrastructure through rience in the industry.
web services and high-performance computing (Matar and Imad H 1 : The factor has a different impact on CC adoption by
Fakhri 2016; Hong et al. 2018). Additionally, new threats such as experience in the industry.
terrorism and cybercrime must be considered (Low et al. 2010). The appropriate analysis is to compare the differences that come
Organizations must now take measures to ensure that in the event from the same population when the dependent variable is ordinal
of such happenings, the business is able to recover with as little (Morgan et al. 2012). The test result listed in Table 6 ascertained
downtime as possible. With the adoption of big data technology that there are differing views on the drivers for the adoption of CC.
such as CC, the information would be safely stored on the cloud All the recorded p-values are below 0.05 (the level of significance).
database that could be accessed readily, which ensures that organ- Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected, which is evident because
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izations can pick up from any threats of business and recover effi- younger organizations are more likely to experience organizational
ciently (Papadopoulos et al. 2017). difficulties, such as limitations in resources, because efforts are
channeled into breaking into the market (Deloitte 2014).
Drivers and Company Size
The Mann-Whitney U-test was adopted to test and analyze if the Intergroup Comparison: Drivers and Roles
distribution of responses varied by the size of companies, such as The Kruskal-Wallis H-test was applied as an intergroup comparison
SMEs and large companies. The null hypothesis and alternative to check the different impacts on the response distributions of
hypothesis are established as follows: CC drivers according to the different roles. The null hypothesis and
H0 : The factor has the same impact on CC adoption by the size alternative hypothesis are as follows:
of companies. H 0 : There is no difference in the median between groups.
H1 : The factor has a different impact on CC adoption by the H 1 : There are differences in the median between groups.
size of companies. All the p-values of CC drivers obtained are below the level of
The p-values for each factor recorded were larger than 0.05, significance (0.05), as summarized in Table 6. This rejects H0 and
except for D3: Decreased Reliance on Labor and D7: Workplace indicates a statistically significant difference in the distributions
Health and Safety. The p-values for D3 and D7 are lower than 0.05, of the CC drivers between roles. The test establishes the notion that
which means that these factors have different impacts on CC adop- the roles have different input due to the difference in responsibility
tion depending on the size of the firm. Because the construction that each role carries in the organization and how they would
industry is highly labor-intensive, ensuring that the organization benefit from the adoption of CC. The success of new technology
employs the right people for the right job is essential. However, introduction is dependent on the acceptance of the intended user
this is not sustainable in the long run because it leads to a far more (Dasgupta et al. 2002; Sitorus et al. 2016).
significant need for foreign employees (Ng 2018). A constraint in
worker availability is an obstacle that will eventually hold back or Challenges in Adopting CC
defer projects. Increasing labor costs have led construction compa-
To deeply understand the challenges of CC adoption, each factor of
nies to scout for other resource alternatives that could reduce their
the challenge was evaluated by its criticality, which was defined as
reliance on labor while improving productivity levels. The imple- follows:
mentation of CC would mean that data would be available online
and integrated into processes that support less reliance on the work- Criticality ¼ ðLevel of likelihoodÞ × ðMagnitude of impactÞ
force. The availability of data is essential for SMEs due to the re-
stricted resources available at their disposal. Implementing such The survey questionnaire required the respondents to answer
cloud technology would allow SMEs to be more productive and with a five-point Likert scale to mark the likelihood and magnitude
competitive than large companies, helping SMEs overcome any of impact on the challenge factors. As shown in Fig. 2, the criti-
current growth challenges (Shakeabubakor et al. 2015; Rüßmann cality matrix shows that nine (3 × 3) represents neutral, more than 9
et al. 2015). and less than 16 represents more critical, more than 16 represents
Furthermore, the adoption of CC would ensure that information
about any project is readily available, thus helping to identify haz-
ards more efficiently. This is an essential contributor to the safety Level of Likelihood
1 5
and health of the workplace because it leads to higher compliance
: Most Critical
and also eliminates communication errors between those who are 5 10 15 20 25
5
onsite and off-site (Martínez-Rojas et al. 2016). As a result, the : More Critical
chances of work-related accidents can be reduced, especially for : Neutral
an industry that is regarded to be high-risk and that has high num- 4 8 12 16 20
Magnitude of Impact

: Less Critical
bers of work injuries. A good record of WSH gives organizations
: Least Critical
higher credibility in the industry. Although both SMEs and large
3 6 9 12 15
companies can benefit from such compliance, CC can give the large
companies a competitive advantage more when tendering for proj-
ects. This is because large companies are dealing with a relatively 2 4 6 8 10
large number of projects compared with SMEs, and the nature of
the projects is more likely to be large or complex.
1 1 2 3 4 5
Drivers and Experience in the Industry
To determine if the response distributions of the drivers dif-
Fig. 2. Criticality matrix of the challenges for CC adoption.
fer according to experience in the construction industry, the

© ASCE 05021017-8 J. Manage. Eng.

J. Manage. Eng., 2022, 38(2): 05021017

 most critical, lower than 9 and more than 3 represents less critical, reported that large firms tend to adopt more innovations, primarily
and less than 3 represents least critical. due to their greater flexibility and ability to take the risk (Zhu et al.
Each criticality was analyzed and discussed according to orga- 2006; Pan and Jang 2008). Moreover, previous studies conducted
nization size, experience in the construction industry, and respond- in the last few decades have found that the size of an organization is
ents’ roles in their organization through Mann-Whitney U-test and a significant determinant of IT innovation (Dholakia and Kshetri
Kruskal-Wallis test (Table 7 gives a summary of the test results). 2004; Hong and Zhu 2006; Pan and Jang 2008). Consequently,
First, the means of the challenge factors were computed. C6: Com- organization size is a crucial factor that affects the adoption of CC
plexity of New Technology, C2: Top Management Support, and in innovative technological development.
C1: Organization Size emerged as the top three challenges with the
highest impact that could hinder the adoption of CC. C6: Complex- Critical Factors and Organization Size
ity of New Technology could hinder the process of adoption be- The Mann-Whitney U-test was conducted on the data set to test
cause organizations are reluctant to invest in new technology if the impact of the critical factors on the adoption of CC would
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(Alshamaila et al. 2013)—especially in the construction industry differ according to an organization’s size. The null and alternative
where the adoption of new technology is low. The introduction hypotheses are as follows:
of new technology would also mean having to acquire a new com- H 0 : The factor has the same impact on CC adoption by organi-
puter skill and adjust to a new method of work (Weinberg 2004), zation size.
H 1 : The factor has a different impact on CC adoption by
which involves not only technical skills but also inculcating a new
organization size.
work culture. The misconceptions of small enterprises often con-
As summarized in Table 7, it was determined that p-values for
cern the fear of complexity, lack of understanding of the potential
the critical factors were less than 0.05 (level of significance) ex-
benefits, and lack of technical resources (Javid and Dalian 2014).
cept for the C1: Organization Size and C6: Complexity of New
Without C2: Top Management Support, the organization does
Technology. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected, indicating
not have the motivation and direction to adopt CC (Thong et al.
that organizations of different sizes do not share the same consen-
1996; Ding et al. 2014). As a result, having top management sup-
sus in the distribution of critical factors. However, C1 and C6 have
port is critical for creating a supportive climate and providing ad-
p-values that are larger than the significance level, finding the null
equate resources for the adoption of new technologies (Lin and Lee
hypothesis to be accurate, with the challenge factors having the
2005; Liang et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2010). Some empirical studies
same impact on CC adoption by organization size. The critical fac-
have pointed out that there is a positive relationship between top tors C1 and C6 are shared between the organization sizes, such as
management support and the adoption of new technologies (Zhu SMEs and large firms. Understanding new technologies is a task
et al. 2006; Pan and Jang 2008). Therefore, adequate upper man- that both large companies and SMEs have to undergo, where train-
agement support can be one of the most influential factors for ing is required to equip staff with a proper understanding of the
innovation implementation in construction firms (Gambatese and latest technology.
Hallowell 2011). Top management can provide insight into and
guarantee the creation of a positive environment for the adoption Critical Factors and Experience in the Construction
of technologies and innovations, especially when the complexity Industry
and sophistication of technologies increase (Lee and Kim 2007). To determine if the impact of the critical factors would differ ac-
C1: Organization Size is the third critical factor. The larger cording to experience in the construction industry, another Mann-
an organization, the more resources it has to support development Whitney U-test was conducted. The null and alternative hypotheses
within the company because the adoption of new technology would are as follows:
mean that these resources must be stretched out to meet the de- H 0 : The factor has the same impact on CC adoption by expe-
mands (Harris and Katz 1991; Dozier and Chang 2006). Compared rience in the construction industry.
with large companies, SMEs are organizations with a limited work- H 1 : The factor has a different impact on CC adoption by
force and financial capabilities (Love et al. 2002). It is often experience in the construction industry.

Table 7. Results of the tests: Criticality of challenges

p-value
Mann-Whitney U-test Mann-Whitney U-test Kruskal-Wallis
No. Challenge Mean Rank (organization size) (experience) (respondent’s roles)
C1 Organization size 14.11a 3 0.148 0.038b 0.000b
C2 Top management support 14.53a 2 0.001b 0.068 0.000b
C3 Lack of staff expertise 11.71 11 0.000b 0.052 0.000b
C4 Intellectual property rights 12.67 7 0.000b 0.282 0.000b
C5 Risk ownership 12.67 7 0.000b 0.282 0.000b
C6 Complexity of new technology 14.75a 1 0.148 0.001b 0.000b
C7 Interface issues 12.27 9 0.000b 0.282 0.000b
C8 Lack of awareness of the 13.07 5 0.000b 0.276 0.000b
relative advantage
C9 Sensitivity of data 13.89 4 0.000b 0.010b 0.000b
C10 Large initial cost 12.48 6 0.000b 0.057 0.000b
C11 Maintenance cost 10.29 12 0.000b 0.001b 0.000b
C12 Lack of standards 11.84 10 0.000b 0.212 0.000b
a
Top three challenges.
b
p-value < 0.05.

© ASCE 05021017-9 J. Manage. Eng.

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 The results in Table 7 ascertained that there is no difference in different impact on the criticality of the challenge factors. The null
the impact of these factors between the two groups of different ex- and alternative hypotheses are as follows:
periences because the p-values recorded are larger than the 0.05 H 0 : There is no difference in the median between groups.
level of significance, except for C1: Organization Size, C6: Com- H 1 : There are differences in the median between groups.
plexity of New Technology, C9: Sensitivity of Data, and C11: As a result, all the factors that have p-values below 0.05 (which
Maintenance Cost. C1, C6, C9, and C11 show that some p-values rejects the null hypothesis) mean that different roles have a different
are below 0.05; as such, the null hypothesis was rejected where impact on the response distributions of the criticality, as summa-
there was a difference in the distributions of the challenge factors rized in Table 7. Therefore, different roles do not share similar
between the two groups. views on the critical factors and adoption of CC in organizations.
C6: Complexity of New Technology has a different impact on
new technology adoption, such as CC, according to the firm size.
Although the absolute value of the complexity of new technology Strategies to Motivate the Adoption of CC
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would be the same regardless of the size of the company, the impact Table 8 provides a summary of the result of the mean comparisons.
of this absolute value on each company differs. SMEs have limited These values show that S2: Clear Direction of Action, S3: Co-
resources, such as physical resources and human resources, which operation between Different Organizations, and S4: Willingness
causes increased burdens due to the new technology adoption. to Change are the top three strategies that could influence the adop-
Furthermore, the lack of investable capital intensifies the fear of tion of CC. S2: Clear Direction of Action is the roadmap that the
adoption of a new technology, which reduces SMEs’ understanding organization can follow to ensure successful adoption (Adane
of the potential benefits (Javid and Dalian 2014); conversely, large 2018). When there is a clear direction for the employees to follow,
contractor companies have enough resources to invest in the intro- it guides them in the direction of the organization’s objectives,
duction of new technologies to their companies. Therefore, there is increasing the chances of a successful adoption (El-Kassar and
less fear of adopting new technologies in large companies than in Singh 2019). Having an appropriate time frame also establishes
SMEs. The sufficient investable resources of the large firms also a clear adoption strategy for the organization’s employees (Lee
allow them to see the long-term benefits of the CC technology and et al. 2009).
care about future investments. Because SMEs are limited by resources, they need to work with
C9: Sensitivity of Data is vital to both SMEs and large compa- other organizations within their cluster to form S3: Cooperation
nies because data security is a crucial issue. The rapid growth in the between Different Organizations. This encourages the sharing of
field of CC has also increased severe security concerns, and C9: skills and resources, enabling them to complement one another and
Sensitivity of Data has remained an untapped issue for internet and specialize to overcome common problems and achieve a common
information technologies (Shaikh and Haider 2011). Therefore, the goal (Adane 2018). Even with the success of CC implementation,
lack of security is a hurdle in the wide adoption of CC regardless of some SMEs remain reluctant to commit to S4: Willingness to
how large a company is. However, the impact of the barrier is dif- Change due to possible misconceptions, such as fear of complexity
ferent according to the size of the company because the amount of and lack of understanding of the potential benefits (Javid and
data produced is different. Dalian 2014). Therefore, these SMEs need to change and adopt a
Generally, the amount of data produced by a company is propor- new organizational structure by aligning technology with their
tional to its size because the larger the contractor company, the business strategy to ensure that the full potential of CC is harnessed
more staff and resources they have. Moreover, the number of proj- for the organization’s development (Adane 2018).
ects or the size of the projects the company deals with is also more
and larger than those managed by smaller companies, which means Strategies and Organization Size
that large companies can produce more data than SMEs. Similarly, To determine how the size of an organization changes the level of
the issue of data security is proportional to the amount of data re- importance of strategies, the Mann-Whitney U-test was applied.
tained. Therefore, this means that larger companies with more data The null and alternative hypotheses for the test are as follows:
could be more sensitive to this critical factor (Chang and Ho 2006). H 0 : The factors have the same impact on CC adoption by
C11: Maintenance Cost is also similar in context to C6. The organization size.
fixed costs needed to introduce new technology to a company and H 1 : The factors have a different impact on CC adoption by
maintenance costs, such as retraining of staff, the constant need to organization size.
upgrade technological skills, and maintenance of the server, vary The results recorded in Table 8 reveal that all the p-values are
somewhat depending on the size of the company. However, these larger than the level of significance. The null hypothesis holds true,
costs are not usually considered a big expense for large companies. and there is no difference in perception of the strategies based on
Furthermore, if companies regard the costs as an investment in their organization size. In other words, regardless of the organization’s
future, it becomes less of a challenge for them. In the case of SMEs, size, the suggested strategies for CC adoption are statistically the
the companies do not have enough extra money and resources to same. Therefore, the strategies might be applicable to all contractor
invest in CC adoption because they are mostly required to focus on firms regardless of their size according to the degree of importance
costs that generate immediate profits for their survival (Ghobakhloo identified in the survey.
et al. 2011; Kurnia et al. 2015). Investing in new technology adop-
tion is expensive, and there are no immediate returns or benefits; Strategies and Experience in the Construction Industry
this can be translated to a high risk for SMEs. Moreover, the cost of Another Mann-Whitney U-test was conducted on the data to com-
maintaining a new technology, such as CC, is a significant burden pare the response distributions of the strategy factors based on
and is over budget for SMEs (Neves et al. 2011). experience in the construction industry. The null and alternative
hypotheses are as follows:
Intergroup Comparison: Critical Factors and Roles H 0 : The factors have the same impact on CC adoption by
To verify the different impacts of CC challenge factors by the dif- experience in the construction industry.
ferent roles, the Kruskal-Wallis H-test was conducted as an inter- H 1 : The factors have a different impact on CC adoption by
group comparison. The test determines if the different roles have a experience in the construction industry.

© ASCE 05021017-10 J. Manage. Eng.

J. Manage. Eng., 2022, 38(2): 05021017

 Table 8. Results of the tests: Strategies
p-value
Mann-Whitney U-test Mann-Whitney U-test Kruskal-Wallis test
No. Strategy Mean Rank (organization size) (experience) (respondent’s roles)
S1 Distinct adoption expectations 4.12 4 0.123 0.003a 0.000a
S2 Clear direction of action 4.27b 1 0.223 0.001a 0.000a
S3 Cooperation between different 4.27b 1 0.223 0.001a 0.000a
organizations
S4 Willingness to change 4.27b 1 0.223 0.001a 0.000a
S5 Larger awareness of government 3.60 7 0.133 0.005a 0.000a
incentives
S6 Reduce capital expenditure 4.12 4 0.123 0.003a 0.000a
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S7 Standards for cloud computing 3.61 6 0.347 0.001a 0.000a

a
p-value < 0.05.
b
Top three strategies.

According to Table 8, all the p-values were recorded below construction industry seems to be actively utilizing CC technology
0.05, which rejects the null hypothesis. Hence, the test confirmed compared with other sectors and countries. Additionally, the survey
that there is a difference in the distributions of the strategies by the results revealed that the top three significant drivers for CC adop-
years of experience that an organization has in the industry. This is tion are C7: Workplace Safety and Health, C8: Sustainable Data
because practitioners’ or managers’ beliefs are derived from their Management, and C9: Business Continuity. The top three chal-
experience, which forms their perspective (Bowman and Daniels lenges were found to be C2: Top Management Support, C6: Com-
1995). Even if practitioners see the same phenomenon, their inter- plexity of New Technology, and C1: Organization Size. The top
pretation also varies according to their expertise. The tendency is three strategies were found to be S2: Clear Direction of Action,
especially true in the contract industry, where experience in practice S3: Cooperation between Different Organizations, and S4: Willing-
is crucial (Faridi and El-Sayegh 2006). Therefore, it can be inferred ness to Change. Moreover, postinterviews were conducted with
that all the presented CC adoption strategies were evaluated differ- construction professionals, echoing the analysis results and find-
ently according to respondents’ experience in the industry. ings obtained from the questionnaire survey, advocating that the
findings from this study are reliable.
Intergroup Comparison: Strategies and Roles Further analyses were conducted to determine if organization
Furthermore, to check the differences that lie among the differ- size, respondent’s experience, and respondent’s role influenced the
ent roles, the Kruskal-Wallis H-test was applied as an intergroup drivers, challenges, and strategies. The analyses results highlighted
comparison. The null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis are that organization size did not impact most of the drivers that mo-
as follows:
tivate the adoption of CC, although there was a statistically signifi-
H0 : There are no differences in the median between the groups.
cant difference in the challenges faced by the organizations of
H1 : There are differences in the median between the groups.
different sizes. Furthermore, it was concluded that the strategies
The results of the test are found in Table 8. The recorded
proposed for CC adoption could be applicable to and practical for
p-values are all smaller than the significance level; hence, all of the
both SMEs and large companies. On the other hand, the perceived
null hypotheses are rejected. The test highlights that the respond-
importance of all the drivers, challenges, and strategies was signifi-
ents’ roles influence the response distributions of the strategies
cantly different depending on the respondent’s experience, except
because they do not share the same consensus. This means that all
for eight challenge factors (C2, C3, C4, C5, C7, C8, C10, and C12).
members of the company, regardless of their job titles, have differ-
ent beliefs for each strategy. Therefore, when an organization ap- In addition, the different roles of the respondents resulted in differ-
plies the proposed strategies, the process of the application might ent influences when they assessed the relative importance of the
be complicated and ambiguous for the organization because it drivers, challenges, and strategies. After all the analyses were car-
needs to take into account the differences in understanding of the ried out, postinterviews were also conducted, echoing the analysis
strategies among job titles. results; the outcomes advocate the reliability of the findings from
this study.
Although the objectives of this study were achieved, there were
Conclusions and Recommendations a few limitations that were involved during the process of the study
that need to be acknowledged. First, the sample size was not large,
Despite CC gaining more attention from the construction industry, and thus one should be cautious when interpreting and generalizing
limited research has attempted to analyze the status of CC adoption the results. Therefore, a larger sample size would enable a better
in the industry from a comprehensive perspective. In this context, representation of the implementation of CC in the construction
this study first investigated the CC adoption status and the percep- industry. Although the findings from this study were interpreted in
tion of professionals in Singapore’s construction industry. The the context of Singapore, they have global contributions. This is
extensive literature review highlighted 9 drivers, 12 challenges, and because the targeted survey respondents included global construc-
7 strategies relevant to CC adoption practiced in the construction tion companies from various countries, which makes the findings
industry, followed by a survey conducted with industry practi- applicable to the global construction industry. Additionally, these
tioners in Singapore’s construction industry. According to the findings contribute to the body of knowledge in terms of providing
analysis results, a relatively high adoption rate of CC among SMEs a better understanding of the strategic adoption of IT in the industry.
and large companies was reported at 68.75% and 77.78%, re- The Singapore government has been pushing for a digitalized
spectively. In line with the global trend of IT adoption, Singapore’s economy and has been actively involved in the digital movement

© ASCE 05021017-11 J. Manage. Eng.

J. Manage. Eng., 2022, 38(2): 05021017

 that has paved the way for businesses to adopt a similar strategy. BCA (Building and Construction Authority). 2019b. “Business expecta-
In this context, the findings of this study accentuate several focal tions of the construction sector.” Accessed May 24, 2019. https://www
points for the government and organizations to consider when .bca.gov.sg/Infonet/others/biz_exp_full_report.pdf.
adopting and managing CC to improve communication among BCA (Building and Construction Authority). 2019c. “Specific registration
requirements for construction workhead.” Accessed December 22,
stakeholders. The findings highlight that the availability of fi-
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