Insights into The Push Factors of Innovation Adoption of Professional Services Firms: The Case of Ghanaian Quantity Surveying Firms (QSF)

Construction industry is a universal driver of an economy but it is largely affected by its reluctance to innovate. This paper aims to identify the drivers of innovation adoption in Ghanaian Quantity surveying firms by looking at related previous literatures. The study adopted Quantitative research approach with census sampling technique, where questionnaires were sent to and retrieved from the top management of Quantity Surveying firms in Ghana. The study then adopted the use of mean score ranking, and hypothesis (H) was tested to check the significance level of all the push factors using One Sample Wilcoxon Signed rank test. 29 out of 43 questionnaires were retrieved from the quantity surveying firms (QSFs) at a response rate of 67.44%. Mean score ranking analysis clearly display that technological capability has the power to drive innovations in Quantity surveying (QS) firms. One Sample Wilcoxon Signed rank test concluded that effective information gathering is not important to the Quantity Surveying firms because it had a significant level of 0.384, which is greater than 0.05. Therefore, this research study has discovered that, programmes promoting access to technology is the main driver of technological capability towards innovations in professional service firms. The finding of this study is valuable to the Quantity Surveying firms as well as the other professionals in the construction industry as well as innovation policy makers and stakeholders, as it will help invest in technological capabilities including programmes promoting access to technology with the aim of driving innovations in the professional service firms

Affordances of BIM during the Architectural Design Process

Building Information Modelling (BIM) represents a move away from traditional practices and the formation of digital models to enable optimized decision making throughout planning, design, construction and operation stages of a facility's life. Usage of BIM is increasing, and seemingly has the capacity to transform every aspect of the construction industry, therefore making it essential for architectural practices to adapt and embrace this new way of working. Delivering projects through BIM within the UK construction industry is reaching a state of necessity. With the UK Government's mandate for BIM implementation coupled with developments in the BIM area, industry practitioners are becoming increasingly under pressure to adopt BIM. BIM technology can potentially change the process and product of architecture. According to Gaver (1991), new technologies primarily concentrate on the current articulated needs and tasks of the users and have the tendency to overlook the innovation potential of the new technologies at the same time. Understanding affordances that BIM can bring to the process of architectural design is a significant factor in the verdict of successful BIM implementation. This preliminary research aims to identify functional affordances of BIM and explore how they influence the architectural design process. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with BIM coordinators, architectural technologists and designers working on BIM projects to understand their perception of affordances that BIM can bring to the process of architectural design. We found that most actors/designers realize the potential of functional affordances of many BIM applications, however only a few utilize this capacity to enhance the design process. The literature and the results obtained through the interviews both revealed a potential additional affordance category which relates to the design stages and the use of BIM

Brexit: measuring the impact upon skilled labour in the UK construction industry

Purpose This paper presents an understanding of the potential impact of Brexit upon the United Kingdom (UK) construction industry. Specifically, the work analyses the construction industry’s reliance upon European Union (EU) skilled labour and seeks to determine the potential impact that Brexit poses upon EU skilled labour entering the sector. Design/methodology/approach A perceptual questionnaire survey was used to elicit responses from construction professionals using the two techniques of opportunity and snowballing non-probability sampling. Summary statistical analysis of Boolean and Likert item scale data accrued was employed to elucidate upon respondents’ perceptions. Findings The majority of survey participants either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the UK construction industry relies upon EU skilled labour and that a career in the sector would not be attractive for foreign skilled labour post-Brexit. Future research proposed includes: predicting future trends in labour supply and demand and deriving new policies to address skills shortage imbalances that may be created by Brexit. Originality/value Original insight into an historic and unprecedented moment for the UK construction industry is presented. The work also provides pragmatic recommendations to policy makers and Higher Education Institutes to prevent the risk of Brexit further exacerbating skilled labour shortages within the industry

An empirical assessment of innovation practices of quantity surveying firms in Ghana

Innovation is ascertained to be a major driver of growth of the productivity of a firm. This has spurred the interest of many researchers to study and harness the adoption of innovation. Extant literature indicates that some professional services offered by the quantity surveying (QS) firms are not needed by the client, or may be outdated. Consequently, the QS firms have to develop the stamina to challenge the existing unnecessary and unwanted or outdated practices and implement innovative practices. What is more alarming is that the QS firms are rated to have a low disposition towards the adoption of innovation. This established context propelled the need for empirically assessing the innovation practices amongst the QS firms in Ghana. A quantitative research approach was employed for this study and a census sampling technique was adopted. A total of 43 questionnaires were administered to the entire population and 24 were retrieved. The current level of innovation practices amongst the Ghanaian QS firms was interpreted using Rogers’ innovation diffusion theory. The results indicated that QS firms in Ghana are early adopters of process innovation, product/technological innovation and business system innovation. The study showed that QS firms adopt innovation practices in rendering their services and even though they do not initiate new ideas, they are the first to adopt the ideas initiated by the innovators. This study has drawn attention to the assessment of innovation practices and increasing the knowledge base of innovation practices in Ghanaian QS firms

Identifying Potential Critical Risks in the Construction Supply Chain – An Empirical Study in Ghana

Risk management is an important tool for organizations operating in a global environment. Hence, this paper seeks to identify potential critical risks existing in the construction supply chain (SC) in order to aid risk management processes. From the literature, 11 risks factors that may affect the construction SC were identified. A questionnaire survey based upon these factors was then carried out and 49 responses were received from contractors and suppliers in Ghana. The mean score analysis was used together with the one-sample t-test to identify potential risks in the construction SC. The K-S test was used to investigate any differences between ratings given by the two groups of respondents for a particular risk factor. The internal consistency and reliability of the risk factors was assessed using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α).The results show that fluctuations in prices, changes in interest rates, shortage of materials, frequent changes in SC inputs and unexpected changes in demand are potential critical risks. Generally, there was no statistical difference between the perceptions of the stakeholders on the ranking of the risk factors. Using the research presented, readers are able to identify potential risks in the construction SC for risk management activities and implement suitable risk mitigation. Although a plethora of research exists on risk management, few studies have attempted to identify risks in the construction SC – this research goes some way to fill that void