Critical review of studies on building information modeling (BIM) in project management

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) and project management are two major research topics that accommodate large volumes of research efforts. BIM has been interpreted as a process technology that aids in enhancing project management. Hence, the investigation from an interdisciplinary perspective of the two concepts may bring new insights to understanding related research. In this paper, a structural approach is adopted in reviewing BIM studies in project management from 2005 to 2017 within identified target journals. This review aims to classify the major research directions and topics for BIM research in project management. Moreover, given BIM’s potential for application in project management, this paper attempts to establish a fundamental research foundation for a new paradigm of project management that incorporates BIM, namely, BIM-based project management. The preliminary result suggests that BIM research in project management develops drastically in the examined duration. The research directions of BIM studies in project management include enabling BIM as a technology in project management; BIM application as a solution for specific project management scopes; integration issues of BIM that have been brought to project management; institutional environment and regulatory governance of BIM in realizing project management strategies; and analysis of effects and strategies of BIM adoption and implementation in projects. The directions and trends are then analyzed to develop a research route for BIM studies in project management. Finally, conclusions focus on the relations of the research directions, as well as the contributions and theoretical implications of this review. Future research areas are also recommended.

Keywords

building information modeling (BIM) / project management / review / BIM-based project management

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted under the framework of a joint Ph.D. program of the IDMR of Sichuan University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which was funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The authors wish to thank editors and anonymous reviewers for the help in developing this paper.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2018 The Author(s) 2018. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)