Measurement models of building information modeling maturity

With the proliferation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) since its inception in the 1970s, there is a growing awareness among professionals of the need for a system of measuring BIM Maturity (BIMM) to compare projects branded as BIM-capable. However, the establishment of a reliable and valid BIMM rating system is tough if not impossible, due to the multidimensional nature of BIM and the methodological difficulty. Although there have been some industry and academic efforts toward the establishment of a BIMM rating system, most were limited to theoretical advocacy, and lacked substantial theoretical and empirical justifications. This research was a unique attempt to integrate the previous efforts by performing an empirical investigation of key factors for measuring BIMM along a two-handed exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approach. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was first employed to extract the underlying constructs of the initial 27 BIMM areas identified from previous literature. The data was collected from an online survey of 208 global BIM-related experts, and was further divided into five subgroups. The EFA results for the five subgroups consistently suggested four distinct dimensions related to technology, information, process, and people. To test the construct validity of the identified measurement models, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was then carried out on the same data from the first survey and the new data from a second survey of 537 global BIM-related practitioners respectively. Results of CFA further supported the proposed multidimensionality of BIMM, and the emphasis on factors related to information and process. The outcomes of this study were four reliable and valid measurement models of BIMM. The key value of this research is to increase understanding of the multidimensional nature of BIMM through empirical evidence, and to provide insight regarding the importance of other factors besides technology when implementing BIM. Future research can be carried out to study the application of these BIMM measurement models to real projects and the impact of BIM.