Rapid growth in construction activities as a result of a growing population and urbanization in many parts of the world generates a large amount of waste from construction. To reduce and manage these wastes, a comprehensive understanding of the construction waste generation factors is needed. The purpose of this study is to identify the contributing factors of construction waste in Thailand’s construction industry. The causes of construction waste were identified through an extensive literature review. A total of 28 causes of construction waste were identified and grouped into the four categories: design and documentation, material and procurement, construction method and planning, and human resources. To determine the significant level of each factor, a structured questionnaire survey was carried out to gather information from contractors about causes of construction material waste. The results show that the categories contributing to construction waste ranks as design and documentation, human resources, construction methods and planning, and material and procurement, respectively. Meanwhile, factors from each category were also determined and ranked. Design change, inattentive working attitudes and behaviors, ineffective planning and scheduling, and material storage were among the highest impact factors on construction waste generation in each category. Identifying the significance levels of waste generation factors will help the industry’s stakeholders build suitable strategies to manage construction waste more effectively.

Purpose – To address the critical issue of how best to adopt and diffuse information and communication technology (ICT) into organisations. Design/methodology/approach – During April and May 2002, a survey of ICT diffusion of ICT users from three construction organisations was conducted. Findings – Results from an earlier phase of this study indicated that 11 factors influence ICT diffusion. The aim of this paper is to report on phase 2 study results within three construction organisations based on the 11 factors found to influence ICT diffusion. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with five to six ICT users and an implementer for each of the case study companies. Originality/value – Three factors were found to have a weak influence on ICT diffusion, while eight have a strong influence. These influencing factors may be grouped into four interrelated categories: management, individual, technology, and work environment. Their inter-relationship should be coherently and comprehensively addressed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report upon research undertaken on deployment of information communication technology (ICT) diffusion initiatives in the Australian construction industry. The paper seeks to explain how innovation implementation drivers and barriers facilitate diffusion at the organisational, group and individual levels.Design/methodology/approach: Data from two web‐based document management case studies and one intranet document management system case study are used to analyse ICT diffusion dynamics within three large information technology (IT) literate Australian construction firms. The sample was purposefully limited to large IT‐literate construction contracting organisations with a need to use ICT for their operational effectiveness.Findings: Constraints at the personal level include limited budget for ICT investment, commitment from other project participants, issues of ICT standardisation, and security problems. At the organisational level, constraints include basic levels computer experience, time available to learn, and the identification of clear benefits of ICT use. Constraints at the group level include time available to share information, quality of personal contact and geographical distance.Research limitations/implications: The sample was purposefully limited to large IT‐literate construction contracting organisations with a need to use ICT for their operational effectiveness.Practical implications: The driver and barrier models presented indicate that ICT innovation implementation requires intense management interventions to facilitate a supportive workplace environment that strongly links personal and organisational resource investment with demonstrated outcome benefits.Originality/value: This study provides rich insights of the dynamics of ICT innovation implementation. Few studies in the literature have provided such insights that link the organisational, group and individual levels.

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify factors affecting adoption and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in large ICT‐experienced Australian construction organizations. During 2002 the researchers undertook an online survey, supplemented by a hardcopy collection option, to gather data from three major construction organizations with many years experience with implementing and adopting IT. The analysis concentrated on a common class of ICT adopted across the three organizations so that factor analysis could be validly undertaken. Results identified 11 factors that were found to influence ICT diffusion and adoption by the organizations that were grouped into management, individual, technology and workplace environment categories. These concurred with theory from the change management, innovation diffusion and organizational learning literature. Further, in‐depth qualitative analysis through case studies (beyond the scope of this paper) also helped to explain and make sense of the results. The results help to better explain human related factors in particular in terms of the broader and emerging literature of organizational learning and innovation adoption with a clear focus on how the people‐side of ICT diffusion and adoption is undertaken. This ICT diffusion and adoption study is undertaken at the firm‐level (micro analysis) as opposed to the industry level (macro analysis) and so provides insights into the interplay between diffusion and adoption concepts.

Interest in construction industry (CI) innovation, particularly in information communication technology (ICT), has been steadily growing with the advent and widespread use of the Internet. However, despite its potential for delivering competitive advantage, many companies have failed to effectively realize promised benefits from ICT due to misunderstanding the relationship between factors and processes influencing ICT implementation. Results from recent in‐depth qualitative ICT implementation research on three construction contractors provides useful insights and practical experience of lessons learned that can be more broadly disseminated. These research results provide an ICT innovation diffusion organizational level framework with insights about how it may be applied to improve ICT adoption at different implementation stages for the CI. They suggest that strategic ICT implementation planning needs to consider issues of critical management support, technical support, supportive workplace environment and ICT users' individual‐characteristics so that the framework processes offered can be effectively applied.