Cite this article
Tehami, M., Seddiki, M. (2025) ‘The individual perceptions of BIM practice in Algeria between practitioners and academics: Implementation barriers and strategic solutions’, Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture and Design STU, 30(2), pp. 3-13. https://www.doi.org/10.2478/alfa-2025-0008
SUMMARY
Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of BIM as a concept and technology in the construction industry. Several developed and developing countries have already initiated the implementation of BIM, which has been possible thanks to significant support by their governments. However, few efforts have been conducted to compare the opinions of academics and practitioners regarding the BIM perceptions. This research was conducted to fill this gap and to explore the different understanding of the BIM implementation between academic people and practitioners in terms of BIM critical barriers, and strategic solutions in Algeria. This paper extends previous research on the BIM implementation in Algeria (Tehami & Seddiki, 2023) by focusing on the individual perceptions of the BIM practice between practitioners and academics.
The research approach is based on literature review and empirical analysis of academics’ and practitioners’ perception. Different from previous BIM implementation studies conducted in developed and developing countries, this study collected a large volume of data from the viewpoints of both practitioners (project managers, project owners, contractors) and academics (university teachers and students), which contributes, scholarly, to the body of knowledge in BIM implementation by extending the BIM adoption research previously limited to practitioners to include academics by proposing multiple factors (e.g. profile type, graduation..).
This research adopted a questionnaire survey followed by statistical analysis. A total of 150 respondents completed the survey. The whole survey sample was divided into subgroups according to the respondent’ profile type, graduation, work type, and CAD and BIM knowledge. A subgroup analysis adopting a statistical approach was conducted in order to investigate the differences in the individual perception of the different groups mentioned above.
The ranking analysis of the BIM implementation barriers revealed that the most important barriers to the BIM implementation were within people and policy factors. People and policy factors included the non-involvement of local authorities in the BIM application, BIM knowledgeable professionals and clients’ BIM knowledge. On the other hand, technology, and process factors such as the high cost of BIM hardware and software, and reluctance to change the working method by project stakeholders were considered less important barriers.
The subgroup analysis revealed that there was a gap in the BIM awareness between the academics and the practitioners. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) revealed that the respondents from academic circles, precisely the students, were more aware of and had a sensitive perception toward certain BIM critical barriers. Compared to the respondents from among practitioners (architects and engineers), students held more confirmatory views, such as for BIM people and technology barriers. However, it is important to point out that these significant differences between groups of respondents did not have a real impact on the ranking of the most important BIM barriers. The findings of the study brought to light that the Algerian construction industry is lagging behind compared to others developing countries in terms of the BIM implementation in construction projects. The ranking of barriers confirms this shift with people and policy factors as the most important barriers while technology and process factors are considered as secondary barriers. This indicates the impact and great role of the local authorities and policymakers in promoting and accelerating the BIM adoption in the country.
The ranking of strategic solutions was in line with the findings of the critical barriers’ analysis. The most important BIM strategic solutions were the launch of the BIM training and certifications, promotion and awareness of stakeholders in the construction industry, and government support and application of BIM. Therefore, first, the government should consider giving incentives to accelerate BIM training courses in private and public schools by promoting Construction Industry-Academics-Partnership, which would enhance large construction companies to start including BIM learning as internal training for their employers, and consequently, implementing BIM in their projects. Secondly, Algerian authorities should impose the BIM implementation for large-size public projects gradually through regulation.
Scholarly, this research will contribute to the body of knowledge in the BIM implementation by extending BIM adoption research, previously limited to practitioners, by proposing multiple factors. Practically, it illustrates the gap between academic and practitioners’ perception in BIM implementation, and provides suggestions for Construction Industry-Academics-Partnership as an influential key for promoting the BIM adoption in Algeria.
Although this research covered the BIM practice perception of both practitioners and academics in Algeria, a limitation of this study is related to the sample size and the multi-influence factors. As part of future studies, it will be interesting to have a more representative population for both the construction industry and the educational institutions in the country. Furthermore, other multi-influence factors could be considered in further research as the compatibility issues at the organisational level of the construction industry in Algeria for facilitating the BIM adoption. Finally, recommended future investigations also include developing an interrelation framework for the BIM implementation among BIM pedagogy and BIM industry practice to address gaps between the educational institutions and the construction industry.