Business model innovation as a mediator between construction 4.0 and firm performance: Evidence from Turkish construction companies

The construction industry has a crucial place in any country's economy. However, compared to other sectors, construction companies have been relatively slow to adopt new technologies, while most companies in different sectors have already begun to adopt the latest technologies to renovate their way of doing business and improve their overall performance. Therefore, Construction 4.0, as the digital transformation of construction companies in the era of Industry 4.0, attracts the attention of both practitioners and researchers. This empirical study aims to uncover the complex relations among Construction 4.0, Business Model Innovation (BMI), and firm performance in a developing country context. We propose an original model of relations purporting that BMI mediates the positive effects of Construction 4.0 on firm performance, drawing mainly on the dynamic capabilities view. All statistical analyses were performed by using R statistical language. Data was gathered from 152 managers in the Turkish construction sector via the convenience sampling method. Descriptive statistics, validity, reliability, correlation, and PROCESS mediation analyses were used to test research hypotheses. The results show that both digital and physical layers of Construction 4.0 positively relate to firm performance and that BMI fully mediates this positive relation. Managerial and further research implications are forwarded.