ISM-based analysis of VR-AEC adoption barriers and their inner mechanisms

Purpose: As an emerging visualization technology, virtual reality (VR) falls into the dilemma of having great potential but a low adoption degree in the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. However, few studies paid attention to studying barriers affecting VR’s adoption and their inner mechanisms. This makes AEC users hard to catch the key points for VR’s implementations. This study aims to get a clear structure of these barriers and provide insights for the improvement. Design/methodology/approach: First, 12 major VR-AEC adoption barriers were identified by a systematic literature review and expert interviews (EI). Second, EI and similarity aggregation method were conducted to achieve reliable barrier relationships. Third, interpretive structural modeling was used to establish a multi-level model for barriers. Finally, ten crucial barriers were targeted with a comprehensive strategy framework. Findings: The findings help AEC stakeholders get a thorough understanding of the VR-AEC adoption barriers. Besides, the inner mechanism among barriers is revealed and analyzed, followed by a systematic strategy framework. It is anticipated that users could conduct more effective VR-AEC promotions in the future. Originality/value: This paper is the first to propose a comprehensive literature review on the VR-AEC adoption barriers. In addition, this paper is novel in building a hierarchy model that explores barriers' inner mechanism, where structural strategies are proposed.