ICT applications adoption by Indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis

Abstract

Despite the advantages of ICT systems, indigenous building contracting firms are still reluctant to forgo their paper-based system for ICT systems. This study assesses ICT application adoption among indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Two hundred questionnaires were administered to a heterogeneous population of 183construction professionals working with building contracting firms within Bauchi metropolis through a stratified random sampling technique. The survey records about 62% useful response rate. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that the firms’ ICT facilities application and adoption are moderate. Their ICT application usages are for communication, administration, marketing, and advanced application. Mobile phones, email, and the internet are ICT for communications with high usage. Word processing and spreadsheet applications, which are ICT facilities for administration record high usage. Design software usage is high as against other ICT marketing applications with moderate usage.

In contrast, all advanced ICT applications usage is moderate. The firms adopt ICT in 14 areas with high adoption in 6 areas: office administration, pricing of a bill of quantities, communication with the project team, marketing for services, advertisement for services, and design automation, whereas they moderately adopt ICT in price estimation, tendering for contracts, purchasing of goods and services,  cost management, human resource management,  tracking of projects, project collaboration, and meeting with the project team. It implies that indigenous building contracting firms in Nigeria are yet to enjoy the speed and precision offered by ICT applications fully. Hence, recommended that the firms: should apply electronic data management, intranet/extranet, voice mail, video conferencing, and webcam for their business communication and highly used ICT in marketing and advanced application. Moreover, completely adopt ICT facilities in price estimation, tendering for contracts, purchasing of goods and services, cost management, human resource management, tracking of projects, project collaboration, and meetings with the project team.

Keywords: ICT applications & adoption, Indigenous Building Contracting Firms, Nigerian construction industry.

1. Introduction

Information and communication (ICT) adoption in construction is viewed as a tool for the realization of a valuable and sustainable construction sector (Morledge, 2011). ICT adoption is a systematic and efficient use of technology and technology-related ideas in an organization, which may be for the design of goods and services beneficial to the organization (Waziri et al., 2016).

A construction process demands exchange of data and information among project participants on a daily basis (Maqsood & walker 2014). This makes the construction industry one of the most information-intensive industries, and requires close coordination among a countless number of specialized but interdependent organizations and individuals to achieve the cost, time, quality and sustainability goals of construction project (Ugwu & Nwoji, 2005).

Furthermore, the development of construction projects incorporate several stages during which a large number of human resources of different specialties interact and cooperate. One of the important elements in this interaction is the information management and communication process which constitutes a determinant factor for the efficiency of human resource cooperation (Esben, 2012).                Similarly Idoro (2014) and Inuwa (2014) asserted that construction is the bedrock of development and no country can think, dream and experience development without a proficient and valuable construction industry.  Indeed, this recognition has motivated several construction organizations around the globe to adopt and invest in this technology (Rivard, 2000; Peansupap, 2005).

In addition, modern structural design software applications, such as 3D modelling and Building Information Modelling (BIM), provide an example where designing complex structures and organizing the site, electrical, mechanical, structural and quantifying of a project can be accomplished in least time and increase the efficiency all in one data framework, though in the past this was almost impossible (Peansupap & Walker (2005).

The industrialized countries like the US, UK, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, among others, have for since quite a while ago grasped the utilization of ICT for their construction projects operations and they have benefited from this, unlike developing countries like Nigeria, where very few achievements in terms of computer usage in indigenous firms operations are recorded (Mbamali & Okotie, 2012; Inuwa, 2014). Hence, the adoption of ICT by the Nigerian indigenous contractors is perceived as a significant factor that improves their project management performance and facilitates attainment of construction best practice (Mbamali & Okotie, 2012; Oladapo, 2006).

This call for the construction industry to  have a standard shift from traditional paper-based to digitally based information exchange which other industries such as aircraft, manufacturing and banking had  adopted and benefitted long ago (Oladapo, 2007). However, according to Mutesi (2014), adoption of ICTs in contracting firms continues to be ‘piecemeal’ and that, only few contractors are fully able to integrate ICTs with their core business processes. Adoption issues such as computer illiteracy, inadequate knowledge of ICT among others have been cited as the most frequently reported shortcomings of contractors in many countries and the fact that contractors’ core business activities are mainly performed on construction sites and applications that support actual work on site are hard to find. (Samuelson, 2002). Ahuja (2015) affirmed that corporation and co-ordination can be accomplished through the use of information and communication technology, but construction organizations have been slow in the adoption and embracing of ICT tools and techniques. According to Ugwuanyi (2012), Nigerian Construction Industry has not fully appreciated the value of ICT and its impact   on the productivity value chain management. This he stressed,   is limiting advances in construction quality, cost efficiencies and competitiveness of Nigerian contracting firms. Similarly, Najimu (2011) affirmed that the level of adoption of e-business for construction project management in Nigeria is below 50%. Oyewobi (2015) also observed that many of the contracting firms in the Nigerian construction industry are lagging behind in ICT adoption compared to their counterparts in other developing countries despite the globalization in technological advancement. Failure of the Nigerian indigenous construction firms to adopt ICT despite its obvious advantages cannot be explained until a comprehensive study is carried out to ascertain the current level of adoption as well as examine the major areas in which firms utilize ICT.

The aim of this study is to assess ICT adoption among indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis with a view to enhancing efficient project delivery. To achieve its aim this study outlined the following objectives:

1. To evaluate the ICT applications  usage by the  indigenous  building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis
2. To assess areas of ICT adoption  by indigenous building contracting firms in the study area

2. Literature Review

• Nigerian Construction Industry

In the 1980s the Nigerian construction industry was the dominant contributor to the nation’s GDP, accounting for about 70% (Planning Committee on the National Construction Policy, 1989). This made the industry very strategic to Nigeria’s development efforts. Sadly, be that as it may, the industry has been bedevilled by a combination of low demand and consistent low productivity and poor performance over the years (Adeyemi et al., 2005; Oladapo, 2006). This has diminished its contribution to the national economy to 1% of the GDP in 2002 (Inuwa, 2014). The industry is made up of an organized formal sector and an unorganized informal sector. The formal sector comprises foreign and indigenous companies, which are classified into small, medium and large scale according to their level of capitalization and annual turnover. The few large firms (mostly foreign), which constitute just about 5% of the total number of contractors in the formal sector, control about 95% of the construction market, while the  indigenous firms control about 5% of the market. The foreign firms market controlling edge over the indigenous firms is attributed to their efficient project management capabilities (Inuwa, 2014; Oladapo, 2006). It then becomes pertinent to the indigenous contracting firms to up their game by embracing innovative project management approach through ICT adoption for them to be able to contribute meaningfully to the nation’s economy.

2.2 Construction Contracting Firms

Construction contracting in developing countries rapidly emerged as a business during colonial rule and shortly after World War II (Laryea & Mensah, 2010; Inuwa 2014). Contractors are the owners of contracting business   and their statutory business registration can either be sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation (Harris & McCaffer, 2005). The primary responsibility of a contracting firm is to ensure that all resources used in discharging construction contracting business are optimally managed for the efficient delivery of a project and for reaping maximum profit for their investors (Inuwa, 2014). Contractors form the backbone of the construction business because they are responsible for implementing the construction plan to reality; construction end product. This gives them special status as major stakeholders in the construction industry (Chitkara, 2012; Usman, et al., 2012; Inuwa 2014). Like other nations of the world, construction  firms could be classified  as small, medium and large in Nigeria, large firms are majorly dominated by the expatriates with very few indigenous  that could  be categorized  as medium  while  most  are  categorized  as small  sized  firms. Against this background, there is a need to examine the structure of contracting firms in Nigeria who are dominated by small scale operation but execute large volume of construction activities.

2.3 ICT in the Construction Industry

ICTs are implanted in networks and services that affect the flow of information which may cover internet service provisions, telecommunications and broadcasting, libraries and documentation centres, commercial information providers, network-based information services and other related information and communication activities. Over the decades, the traditional means of communication, for example, face-to-face meetings and exchange of paper documents in form of technical drawings, specifications and site instructions have restrained the application of ICTs in the construction industry. In recent times, the shift from traditional paper-based to digital-based information has greatly enhanced the deployment of ICT in construction projects. Construction project development is faced with increased specialization, cost demands and technical complexity which require effective information and communication exchange to achieve end results (Lofgren, 2012). The mutual nature of construction activities necessitates the timely transfer of relevant information among the multidisciplinary project teams to realize project objectives. This information exchange can be accomplished through specification of the resulting product, which is regarded as design information, and the initiation and control of activities required for constructing the facility known as management information (Rivard et al., 2004). The advancements in ICTs have recorded tremendous impact in the methods of practice of all construction activities including procurement, schedule, tendering and other on-site activities. Numerous ICT-based methods have been developed to facilitate best performance in construction.

2.4 ICT Tools and Applications in the Construction Sector

According to Dubem (2014), some of the important ICT tools and applications being used by the construction sector should support the entire construction process of construction from inception through to the operational maintenance of the building asset. This involves using ICT tools and technology to create, communicate and exchange information and data among the various participants in the project team. Again project models that supports improved co-ordination and management of information throughout the project life cycle has gained increased recognition and that, contractors among the building team can also use ICT throughout the entire process of their operations (Najimu, 2011). Generally the use of ICT on a construction project can be classified into communication systems and technical decision support systems (Adriaanse et al., 2010).  Adriaanse et al. (2009) reported  that the communication domain involves all the common means of communication which are now computerized, while the technical decision support domain involves other computer applications other than for communications  drawing, the following are the key ICT tools and applications for the construction sector. Electronic Communication and Data exchange systems in construction: project extranets or project specific web sites, internet and electronic mails, teleconferencing, intranet & electronic data interchange. Administration, business and information management systems: computer aided design and visualization systems, computer aided estimating systems, site management tools, planning and scheduling systems & mobile computing.

2.4.1 ICT applications/facilities used in Nigerian constructing organization

Some tools of ICT (particularly hardware) are commonly required in architectural, engineering and quantity surveying practices, others (mostly software) are profession-specific. The common types of software used in all the three professions include word processing, spread sheet, CAD and Internet software (Goh, 2005). Areas of application of ICT common to the professions are administration, communication, marketing, desktop publishing, presentation and project management (Doherty, 1997; Arif & Karam, 2001). While architects and engineers use CAD mostly for design, drawing and presentation (Rivard, 2000; Arif & Karam, 2001; De Lapp et al., 2004), quantity surveyors use it for measurement, preparation of bills of quantities, estimating and presentation. The engineering analysis software for specific branches of engineering includes Microstran, and MathCad (Doherty, 1997). With 3D modelling capacity in modern structural design software, designing complex structures is now facilitated where previously this was almost impossible (Walker & Hampson, 2003).  For  quantity  surveying,  there  are  WinQS32,  QS  Plus2001,  QsCAD,  CATO,  and Masterbill among others (Willis et al., 1994; Adetola, 1998; Murray et al., 2001).  ICT facilities offer the advantage of speed of operations and accuracy, as in   quantity surveying functions from approximate estimating to final accounts. In addition to these applications of ICT to what may be termed the traditional domains of the architectural, engineering and quantity surveying professions, there are some emerging new areas of ICT innovations. These include knowledge management (KM), electronic document management (EDM) and e-business. ICT facilitates the transfer of knowledge and information between project teams, enabling the development of new knowledge for innovation (Gann, 2000). The development of an EDM system for project management can save considerable time and cost for document transfer (Tam, 1999); while e-business provides an efficient infrastructure for remote consulting services to consultants who desire to provide their services through the Internet (Mangini & Pelli, 2003).

2.4.2 ICT adoption in Nigerian building contracting firms

Ngayungi (2008) argues that the drivers in the adoption of ICT are influenced by technological benefits, readiness by organization and coping with environment. Oladapo (2007) divided the factors affecting the adoption and use of ICT in the Nigerian construction industry into:  internal and external factors. The external factors include the customer/ client demands; Technological demands, Influence of competition; Availability / Affordability of hardware/software; and Availability of power. An attitude of CEOs/ senior managers to ICT is among many factors included in internal factors. Additionally   argues that, the most significant determinant of the level of ICT use is the attitudes of CEOs/ senior managers to the benefits of the technology, i.e. their appreciation of the usefulness of ICT and concluded that the internal factors determine the level of ICT use by firms in Nigeria .

Several authors have discussed these problems and their potential solutions (Ahiakwo, 2002; Chiemeke and Longe, 2006). The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) acknowledged the level of Internet diffusion to be very low and attributed it to high cost of bandwidth, computers and Internet infrastructure, as well as unreliable power supply. A casual investigation of the Nigerian ICT terrain reveals that wireless network will grow faster than wired network. This fact is supported by the rapid increase in mobile telephone subscribers in recent times (Chiemeke & Longe, 2007).

3. Methodology

Quantitative method was used as research design in both data collection and analysis stages. The primary instrument used for data collection is a structured questionnaire. Internal consistency test through. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to test the internal consistency (reliability) of the questionnaire. It records Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.833 and 0.865 for the two constructs (usage & adoption), which reveals a highly reliable questionnaire. Subsequently, 40 seasoned construction academics were used to pilot test it for comprehensibility and error free. Four hundred core construction procurement professionals working with Indigenous Building Contracting Firms in Bauchi metropolis forms the population for this study. These professionals comprised of: architects, builders, civil engineers and quantity surveyors. These samples   were drawn from the indigenous Building Contracting Firms that are registered in the Due Process Office of Bauchi State   Government, Nigeria.  Sample size of 118 was arrived at in conformity with the rule of thumb for a sample size of population of 183 according to Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table for   determining sample size. The sample size was rounded up to 150 in order to take care of inadequate questionnaire responses. The questionnaires were administered using stratified random sampling technique because of the population stratified nature. Subsequently, the questionnaires responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. SPSS version 22 was used as the tool for conducting the analyses.

• Results

One hundred and twenty nine (129) questionnaires were returned out of the 150 distributed. This represents almost 86% response rate. However, only 123 were used in the analyses after removing incomplete ones and data screening for outliers. The overall response rate after data screening was 82%. Analysis was carried out using frequency to identify missing data and wrong postings, which were treated by reviewing the particular questionnaire to correct the wrong posting, and data mean method in SPSS was used to fill in the missing values.

4.1  Respondents Demographic Information

Table 1 shows the demographic information of the respondents. The frequency and percentage analyses results carried out were presented to explore the respondents’ profile.

Table1: Demographic characteristics of respondent

Table 1 shows that majority of the respondents were male (87%) and only 13% were female. This confirms that the construction industry is male dominated. In terms of academic qualification, majority of the respondents holds bachelors’ degree (49.6%) followed by master’s degree holders with 17.9%, then Higher National Diploma (16.3%). Those with PhD represents a mere 2.4% of the respondents, while National Diploma holders and others with Post Graduate Diploma are 13.0% and 0.8% respectively. The percentage of professionals with years of experience from 6—10 years are 36.6%, followed by 11-15years having 34.1%. Those with less than 5years experience are 23.6%. Then 16 years and above are having 5.7%. The result shows that the industry is a male dominated and that most of the respondents are educated enough for a study of this nature.

Classifying the respondents according to professional affiliation, 31.4% are architects, 25.2% are quantity surveyors, 25.2% are builders while, civil engineers represents only 15.4%. This shows that the group of respondents are core procurement professionals engaged in contracting business.

4.2 Major ICT Applications Usage by Indigenous Building Contracting Firms in Bauchi Metropolis

Table 2 shows the result of data analysis on the major ICT application used by indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis. A 5-point Likert scale used throughout the study with different constructs having similar or different scale descriptors. However, the difference in descriptors, the construct have uniform mean ranking scale. Accordingly, the ranks were numbered between level one (1) which was lowest level to level five (5), which was highest level. This study adapted the mean score decision interval based on the works of Ramli, Mohamed, Abdullahi, Jaafar and Lazim (2017) from which the following interval decisions were deduced. 1-1.80-(Very low), 1.81-2.60- (Low), 2.61-3.40 (Moderate). 3.41-4.20 (High), and 4.21-5.0 (Very high). The SD ranges from 1.008 to 1.354 implying that there is agreement among the respondents’ responses.

Table 2: Major ICT Applications used by Firms

Table 2 shows the major ICT application used among indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis. It shows ICT application for communication that has high usage are: mobile phones, Email, and Internet. Electronic data management and Intranet/Extranet records moderate usage. While the low ICT applications usage for communication are Video conferencing and Webcam. The ICT application for administration with high usage are word processing and spreadsheet applications. Design software (CAD) has high usage for marketing. While project management software, company website, online marketing of products to clients, and online archive photograph for completed projects are moderately used for marketing. The Advanced ICT applications for cost estimating software, electronic data interchange, supply chain management, and enterprise resource planning are all moderately in used. The SD of the responses is 1.008 to 1.354, this shows that there is agreement among the respondents.

4.3 Major Areas of ICT Adoption by Indigenous Building Contracting Firms in Bauchi Metropolis

Table 3 shows the major areas of ICT adoption by Indigenous Building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis. Office administration, pricing of bills of quantities, communication with project team, marketing for services, advertisement for services, and design automation are ranked as high areas of ICT adoption by indigenous building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis. While price estimation, tendering for contracts, purchasing of goods and services, cost management, human resource management, tracking of projects, project collaboration, and meeting with project team are the areas with moderate ICT adoption by indigenous building contracting firms. The range of the SD is 0.849 to 1.229, which signify that the respondents are in agreement in their rankings.

Table 3:  Major Areas of ICT Adoption by Indigenous Building contracting firms in Bauchi Metropolis

5. Discussion

This study attempts to identify the ICT application used by indigenous Building contracting firms in Bauchi metropolis as well as the major areas of ICT Adoption. Mean ranking was used to rank the most used ICT application in the study area. The result reveals that the most used ICT application for communication are mobile phone  and Email, while the least used among them are Video conferencing and webcam. The result reveals that firms mostly used MS word and MS excel for administrative purpose. The major ICT application used for marketing is design software (CAD), while the least used application is online archive photograph for completed projects. The result also reveals that ICT applications used for core services were moderately used by the firms, which are cost estimating software, electronic data interchange, supply chain management and enterprise resource planning.  This findings is in agreement with that of Mutesi and Kyakula (2014), where 87% of the firms’ they surveyed used mobile phone for communication, and about 64% of them connected to internet used Email. The findings agrees  with that of Saka (2011), which  reveals that about 70% of contracting firms use either Email or fax to communicate.  Additionally, this study concurs with Oyediran’s (2014) findings that intranet, webcam and video conferencing facilities are very low in terms of usage in south western Nigeria. The use of video conferencing which could save management staff a lot of time and money on travelling to attend site meetings is still very rare. This is probably due to the low level of awareness about it as revealed by Oyediran (2014). Simiarly, this result agrees with the findings of Achuenu (1999), Oladapo (2007) and, Usman and Said (2012). However, the finding of this study contrast with the findings of Achuenu and Olaoye (2002), that the level of usage of ICT applications for communication, general office administration and marketing is high. The useful tools for project and site management i.e. Project planning software, Cost estimation software, Electronic data interchange, and supply chain management enjoy only moderate level of usage.

Moreover, the findings also shows that the major areas to which indigenous contracting firms adopt ICT in their business activities are: office administration, pricing of Bills of Quantities, communication with project team, and marketing for services. They also deploy ICT for purchasing of goods and services, Tendering for contracts, Cost management, Tracking of Projects, and Project collaboration at moderate level. This result agrees with Oyediran (2014) and, Olalaye and Abdullahi (2014) studies which reveals that there is moderate level of ICT Adoption in the Nigerian construction industry. The implication of this findings is that the most important ICT facilities used for efficient project management are not fully deployed in the Nigerian construction industry. Consequently, the industry is deprived of fully reaping the advantages of ICT facilities speed and precision in their operations.

• Conclusions

This study assessed ICT application usage by indigenous Building Contracting Firms in Bauchi metropolis, as well as their major areas of Adoption. The study adopted quantitative design through questionnaire survey. Findings   show that the major ICT applications usage by indigenous building contracting firms are the basic ICT tools of communications which include: mobile phones, email, and internet, word processing and spreadsheet application. ICT applications usage for administration and advanced applications are moderate and low. While the Adoption of ICT among Indigenous Building Contracting Firms is Moderate in Bauchi metropolis.

In view of the above, it was concluded that indigenous building contracting firms in Nigeria have not fully employed major ICT facilities in their operations, and as such, limiting them in adequately enjoying its advantages of speed and precision for better project performance. Hence, for optimum project performance in contracting business operation, this study recommended that indigenous building contracting firms in Nigeria: should highly improve on their application of electronic data management, intranet/extranet, voice mail, video conferencing, and Webcam for their business communication. Moreover, completely adopt ICT facilities in the following project management areas: price estimation, tendering for contracts, purchasing of goods and services, cost management, human resource management, tracking of projects, project collaboration, and meetings with project team.

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