Towards a Hybrid Approach to BIM implementation – A Critical Discourse

BIM adoption in many countries involves different approaches including the use of government mandates. The UK’s 2016 BIM mandate for public projects to be delivered at BIM Level 2 maturity, is an example. However, BIM mandates do not apply to private sector projects which leave questions about the inclusivity of its adoption and the susceptibility of SMEs to being digitally disenfranchised. Developing countries yet to adopt BIM are at the risk of out-rightly imitating the mandate-driven policies of countries like the UK, without considering alternative options that might better suit their socio-economic realities. This research investigates the use of alternative strategies (nudge theory) for promoting BIM adoption for inclusivity of smaller organisations, the private sector or developing countries. By drawing on two interrelated yet independent theories of loss aversion theory and nudge theory, this study examines the current mandate-driven policies and provides a critical discourse around ways that these two theories can be combined to form a new kind of construct on the way BIM implementation is (or can be) understood. The result from the critical analysis suggests that a hybrid of mandate and nudge can be effective in promoting BIM and none of these approaches is self-sustaining given their challenges. This finding opens a new vista for applying behavioural policies based on nudge theory and its potentials for promoting BIM implementation in the construction sector.