Popis: |
Advanced technologies are increasingly being introduced to the construction industry. Several studies in the literature have examined the diffusion of advanced communication technology, however the adoption process for handling and lifting equipment (e.g. advanced cranes and lift trucks) from an organizational/project perspective has received very little attention. This paper presents the handling and lifting equipment adoption model including key stages of the process from seeking a potential solution to utilisation. The paper also intends to identify whether different construction companies follow the same procedure or have different technology adoption behaviours due to the differences in their organization characteristics. In doing so, a total of 22 in-depth interviews were conducted to investigate how contractors make decisions to adopt a piece of handling and lifting equipment, and to gather information about their feedback on technology implementation. The findings show that the model consists of six main stages (i.e. required activities) such as ‘seek potential solutions’, ‘comparisons’, ‘evaluation’, ‘negotiation’, ‘evaluation’, and ‘assemble and operate’, which are navigated by customers and vendors as they pass through the adoption process. It was also found that there are three main groups of decision makers in the sample which are called ‘leader corporations and large firms’, ‘mid-sized leaders’ and ‘followers’ which pass through the adoption process differently in terms of being either innovative, developing new market technologies, or exhibiting conservative behaviour. Future study should evaluate the model in different contexts and market settings. |