Factors contributing to drone adoption in Malaysian construction industry

Abstract

For many years, the Malaysian construction industry is being ridiculed for their refusal to change and slow to react when it comes to adopting new technology and innovation although technology can improve their business by leaps and bounds. Using drone as new technology example, this research aims to identify the push and pull factors that influence the adoption of drone by the construction industry in Malaysia and what can be done to accelerate the speed of adoption. It is anticipated that this research will contribute to formulation of new integrated solutions within the existing ecosystem that is much needed so that early adopters who are the minorities of the industry can appreciate the benefit of drone and also to convert the non-users. This research was conducted using qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were deployed as data collection method and were conducted with 8 industry experts, actual users and drone service providers. The results indicate that drone is a practice among leading construction and developer companies. There is a consistent opinion among interviewees that drone will be an industry standard in another 5 years to come although the industry is currently fragmented. Furthermore this research also indicates that the actual users of drone have the traits of early adopters and visionary leaders are a major pull factor in adoption of new technology. The research further revealed that there is no shared information among the industry experts, actual users and drone service providers about estimated benefit in terms of monetary value eventhough cost has been identified as a push factor. Based on the research findings, a conceptual model of a drone industry consortium was developed with the purpose to encourage higher level of collaboration and integration among drone industry users especially in knowledge sharing.