Barriers to ICT uptake in professional quantity surveying organisations: an Australian perspective

The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the construction industry is viewed as crucial for effective and successful project completion. Moreover, the adoption of appropriate ICT tools increases the likelihood of survival, growth and profitability of the stakeholders of projects and the industry as a whole. Although majority of the Australian Quantity Surveying (QS) profession perceive that greater use of ICT would enhance their performance, they are not adopting ICT in any substantial, cohesive way across the sector. This suggests that there is a need to understand the reasons behind the low adoption thereby identifying the barriers to ICT uptake. Questionnaire survey and non-parametric statistics are employed to study the barriers to, and difficulties of ICT adoption in QS organisations. Cost and time are identified as two strong barriers to the uptake of ICT. Although the age and size of an organisation has no significant influence on ICT uptake, however, it is evident that the level of training and research practice has a significant influence on ICT uptake. It is also found that those organisations that undertake systematic research are more likely to have a plan for the integration of ICT into their businesses.