Many countries and regions consider off-site construction a modern construction method that facilitates sustainability in the construction industry. Sustainability research in off-site construction (SROSC) is crucial for its development and is a nonnegligible part of its management. However, an in-depth understanding and critical analysis of SROSC to summarize recent research and inform future research directions are lacking. In this study, we address this issue by offering a mixed-review method integrating scientometric analysis and systematic review to explore state-of-the-art SROSC. We aim to uncover sustainability themes and topics, distinguish research trends, and identify gaps in knowledge that can be addressed in future research. Scientometric analysis was used to perform statistical analysis and visual map research on the knowledge landscape formed by 272 related studies of SROSC. The systematic review was used to identify and analyze six major knowledge themes (e.g., environmental, economic, social, decision-making, optimization, and industry management) and 21 knowledge topics for SROSC. We proposed possible future research directions based on the resulting structured body of knowledge. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by visualizing and analyzing the state-of-the-art of SROSC, as well as identifying the future research directions in this area to improve architectural, engineering, and construction practices.

Application of emerging digital technology (DT) is an attractive subject of research and is indispensable to the current goal of intelligent construction in many countries. Relevant studies have either focused on the status of a specific DT or proposed preliminary/qualitative comparisons among DTs. This paper provides a systematic understanding of research on applying DTs to the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry using a mixed-review method. Ten emerging DTs are determined, and publications related to them in 2011–2020 are collected from the Scopus database. The overall status and comparisons of research on 10 emerging DTs by region, journal, and popularity are then presented. The content of research on them is examined through in-depth literature analysis (including research scenario, project stage, and literature evolution in a discipline) and theme classification. Future research directions including technology knowledge, development, application and management, and some practical implications for the country, industry, project, and enterprise, are finally proposed. This research will be informative for academics with regard to the emerging DT’s opportunities in this discipline and provide support for work on the digitization of the AECO industry. Some practical implications are proposed from the perspectives of the country, industry, project, and enterprise. For the government, the holistic planning and scientific coordination of emerging DTs need to be highlighted, such as vigorously promoting Building Information Modelling (BIM) and artificial intelligence (AI) and utilizing them to further support the progress of blockchain and digital twin. Establishing demonstration projects to play their radiating roles and accelerate the inter-regional promotion of emerging DTs is also effective. For the industry, it is suggested to build technology alliances to jointly develop integrated platforms covering multiple emerging DTs through in-depth synergy; industry associations are advised to strengthen knowledge diffusion and accumulation for emerging DTs through sharing and training. For projects, applying emerging DTs to the entire life of projects and making them be deeply integrated with off-site, lean, and green construction are advisable. For enterprises, improving the workflow and management model adapted to the application of emerging DTs is necessary. Through adjusting organizational structure and transforming corporate culture, the competitiveness of enterprises could be continuously improved.

Prefabricated construction (PC) is considered to be a solution for construction unsustainability. Promotion of PC is based on measuring the influencing factors for the diffusion of prefabricated construction technology innovation (PCTI). Therefore, this study explored the influencing factors and underpinned mechanism for the diffusion of PCTI from the perspective of construction enterprises’ adoption, with two dimensions of internal and external. A conceptual model with nine hypotheses was first established. Then, this study conducted a questionnaire survey of 119 construction enterprises across the PC industry, and made an empirical analysis using structural equation model (SEM), to test the model. The results found that both construction enterprises and governments play significant roles in the diffusion of PCTI while agencies and consumers do not. Besides, network power of construction enterprises plays a mediating role in the relationship. This study provides decision-making assistances for different stakeholders in the PC industry.

Technology innovation is a key to Off-Site Construction (OSC), but it can achieve economic and social benefits through diffusion. Previous research mainly focused on the optimization or on-site applications of OSC technology innovation; little on its diffusion-related analysis. Diffusion performance generally leads to a faster and deeper diffusion of OSC technology innovation. To study what influence the diffusion performance of OSC technology innovation, the authors first determined the research border and proposed four hypotheses, and then conducted a questionnaire in various China’s construction companies. After investigating 119 construction companies for three months, 151 valid responses were collected and analyzed using Hierarchical Regression and bootstrap-based mediation test approaches. The results found that both market and government had significant impacts on the diffusion performance with comparable influence degree (0.282** and 0.255**), the government played a dual-mediating effect with network power simultaneously (effect value is 0.215) and the technical versatility had a significant indirect influence (>0.204**) but weak direct impact (0.094) on the diffusion performance of OSC technology innovation. The conclusions explored the influence mechanism of different factors on the diffusion of OSC technology innovation and provided practical suggestions for both construction companies and government authorities to promote the development of OSC.

Building information modeling (BIM) can integrate multi-stage resources and promote multi-agent collaboration. As a key information technology in the architecture, engineering and construction field, BIM has attracted increasing attention worldwide. Existing research mainly focuses on influencing factors or project-based applications of BIM, lacking a macroscopic and quantitative measurement. This study quantitatively explores the macro characteristics and dynamics of BIM adoption. A total of 4,591 BIM-related patents were collected, and the current BIM adoption status was clarified. The evolution process of BIM adoption from 2011 to 2020 was revealed using social network analysis, and the development trend was predicted based on a Barrat, Barthelemy, Vespignani (BBV) model. The results indicate that BIM adoption in China presents significant regional imbalances and scale-free network features, with low connectivity as a whole and a significant island effect locally, and is entering a stage of rapid development and active evolution. This study provides an overview of actual BIM adoption and its potential causes, which is a breakthrough in existing research. The conclusions will contribute to the government issuing evidence-based policies to promote BIM at large.