Examining the drivers and barriers to e-procurement and e-collaboration adoption in South African Construction- post Covid-19
The uptake of e-procurement in the South African construction industry (SACI) has been generally slow and with no record of e-collaboration uptake. However, the onset of the Covid19 pandemic presented an opportunity for this to change, due to the new ways of working that had to be adopted as a result of limited in-person contact. This research examines the drivers and barriers of the e-procurement (EP) adoption and e-collaboration (EC) in SACI. It also determines the EC and EP adoption rates and tests whether there are statistically significant differences in the drivers and barriers of EP and EC before versus after the onset of Covid-19. A questionnaire was compiled using the top drivers and barriers found in the literature review. It was administered online to respondents working for companies listed on the cidb Register of Contractors. This study uses a quantitative research approach and a cross-sectional survey in collecting data. The statistical analysis used is the Paired Sample Sign Test, which calculates the difference between the medians of driver and barrier pairs, consisting of influence levels before and after Covid-19. This study found that the EP and EC adoption rates increased after the onset of Covid-19, and that Covid-19 itself was a top driver for both EP and EC. The top barriers for EP and EC were (1) unreliable internet service and power supply and (2) benefits to be achieved as a result of EC Software that is not communicated by management, respectively. There is a statistically significant difference in the EP driver ‘ease of use of procurement software' and the EP barrier ‘unreliable internet service and power supply' before versus after the onset of Covid-19. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected for this driver and barrier. As for EC, there was a statistically significant difference between the EC driver ‘employees' confidence in their technological abilities' and the following five EC barriers: ‘benefits …of EC are not communicated', ‘content generated by some employees on EC software is not useful'; ‘employees' poor management of multiple tools'; ‘the competitive and non-sharing culture … makes it difficult for EC software to thrive;' and ‘employees have limited time during their workday … before versus after the onset of Covid-19'. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected for this EC driver and five EC barriers. The study helps SACI stakeholders to know how they currently fare in terms of EP and EC adoption, and where they should direct efforts to increase it. Increased adoption makes SACI competitive in the global construction space and it also makes their work effective and efficient. Keywords: e-procurement, e-collaboration, adoption rate, South Africa, construction, South African Construction Industry, Covid-19
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Department of Construction Economics and Management