Adoption of BIM by architectural firms in India: technology–organization–environment perspective

Building information modelling (BIM) is being heralded as a remarkable \ninnovation in the built environment sector with expectations of lofty \nsector-wide improvements. Some countries have shown remarkable \nlevels of uptake of BIM, along the way documenting some evidence of \nbenefits stemming from BIM. However, countries such as India and \nChina are late entrants in the BIM adoption journey and are seeing a \nslower adoption rate. This study develops a model using the \ntechnology–organization–environment framework to study the factors \ninfluencing BIM adoption by architectural firms in India and reasons for \nthis slow adoption. The proposed model of BIM adoption is tested using \nthe partial least square method against responses collected from 184 \nindustry professionals based in India. Findings reveal that the adoption \nof BIM by Indian architectural firms is at the ‘experimentation’ stage with \nvariables such as expertise, trialability, and management support \nexhibiting a strong positive influence on BIM adoption. The study also \nexplains the status of BIM adoption in India with the help of a multilevel \nsocial construct, which places the level of BIM adoption in India \nbetween the micro- and meso-levels of organizational scales. Similarities \nand dissimilarities with previous findings are discussed in the paper to \nhighlight the findings of this study.