Adoption Patterns of Advanced Information Technologies in the Construction Industries of the United States and Korea

Abstract

The results of a survey conducted by the ASCE Wireless Construction Committee are presented. The goal of the effort is to better understand how much construction contractors have advanced in adopting information technologies in general and wireless communications in particular. Responses were collected from 152 U.S. and 31 Korean firms. It was found that, overall, the strongest interest among the responding contractors is in document and content management applications. Differences between Korean and U.S. contractors are discussed. The data indicate that the use of information technology by contractors is generally higher in Korea than in the United States. Both practitioners and scientists will be able to use the presented study because the data reveal the managers’ perceptions of the most promising opportunities for and highest barriers to implementation of advanced communication systems in construction. With the information provided, interested readers of this journal will be able to focus their attention on pursuing specific opportunities and removing barriers to future adoptions.