Managerial decision making capabilities framework in adopting technology innovation within quantity surveying organisations

Abstract

The emergence of technology innovation has been acknowledged as one of the strategic decisions to solve the fragmented practices. Technology innovation is employed by various organisations to assist them in different ways. Despite the benefits it offers, both Western and non-Western researchers have reported numerous innovation problems, in which slow decision-making process to adopt new technologies remains to be the primary concern. The small professional services organisation (SCPS) or the so-called knowledge-intensive professional service organisation are also facing the same problem. From the perspective of small medium enterprises (SME’s) researchers, the problem arose due to the incapability of managers to make technology adoption decisions. Realising the need of technology innovation within the Malaysian construction SMEs, this research aims at developing a managerial decision-making capability framework (MDMCF), which would be able to assist SME’s managers to understand their level of adoption capability. This research adopted a qualitative method to collect data from the respondents. These include conducting pilot interviews on two qualitative researchers and one quantity surveying (QS) manager selected randomly to ensure the validity and reliability of the questions. The exploration of research has been continued by gathering the data from ten number of case studies and using three main research techniques: (i) semi-structured interview, (ii) direct observation, and (iii) documentation. The scope of the research tried to focus on identifying the motivational factors and examining the managerial decision making capability (MDMC) within Malaysian construction specifically from top managerial level, small size of QS organisations and using BIM software as an examplar. Then, the developed framework was validated by eight domain experts from various QS organisations. Their selection were based on their position, experience and their involvement in the decision making process with regard to IT adoption. Using cross-case analysis, the results from the case studies showed that the managers’ motivation to adopt new technologies were influenced by two primary reasons: (i) the significance of new technology and (ii) the advantages of new technology towards organisations. Whereas, managerial decision to adopt new technology was influenced by their capability that can be classified into two broad categories: (i) non-behavioural capability and (ii) behavioural capability. These broad factors were further categorised into five main factors: (i) demographic characteristics, (ii) cognition, (iii) social capital, (iv) human capital and (v) behaviour. Based on the empirical results, this research seems to be a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge of construction innovation in Malaysia as the data related to CPS organisations were gathered. The MDMCF can also be a ‘blueprint’ or guideline to assist managers in planning any technology adoption strategy within their organisation.