Performance of automatic electronic devices in construction projects: An empirical investigation

Electronic communications play an important role in assisting construction project managers. Few researchers have addressed the problem of communication technology adoption in the construction industry. This paper explores the quality of communication at construction sites in Iran and evaluates the efficiency of electronic devices. To investigate the quality of communications in construction sites, a field study is conducted on a sample of construction projects in Hamadan province, Iran. In this field study, engineers from the Building Engineering Organization of Hamadan Province are interviewed. Cohen's kappa coefficient is used to determine the percentage of agreement among the research participants. A case study was considered to evaluate the performance of automatic electronic communications in a construction site. The site is related to flour hives located in the west of Hamadan city. Five devices are used including a virtual reality building information model, a smartphone camera, an electronic construction kiosk, a GPS smartphone, and quick response tags. A video is used by the aid of the electronic construction kiosk that shows the risks and injuries for people without helmets. Analytical hierarchy process is employed to assess the relative importance of various electronic hardware used in this study. The results indicate that most communications in construction sites are traditional (paper-based); slow and ineffective communication, misunderstanding of requirements and agendas, and inadequate communication between personnel are the most important communication problems of construction sites. The results also indicate that prioritizing the importance of electronic communication tools is the electronic kiosk, quick response tags, smartphone camera, and GPS smartphone, respectively. In addition, the results demonstrate the benefit of electronic communications on employee training, project safety, project time, and project cost. Limited research has been conducted on the performance of electronic communications in construction projects. This paper is of interest to those who work in the field of construction project automation.