Validating a UTAUT-Based Instrument for BIM Adoption in Construction Waste Management: A Pilot Study

The global adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has revolutionised construction practices by improving collaboration, coordination, and project efficiency. However, its integration into Construction Waste Management (CWM) remains limited in developing contexts, particularly in the West Bank of Palestine, where rapid urbanisation, restricted landfill capacity, and institutional challenges exacerbate waste-related issues. This study presents a pilot validation of an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)-based framework to assess BIM adoption for CWM in the Palestinian Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector. The instrument comprised 26 items representing six constructs—Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), Facilitating Conditions (FC), Behavioural Intention (BI), and Actual Use (AU)—and was administered to 45 industry professionals. Data were analysed using SmartPLS 4 (SEM-PLS). Reliability analysis confirmed excellent internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.905 to 0.970 and an overall alpha of 0.951. All outer loadings exceeded 0.75, and the Fornell–Larcker criterion verified discriminant validity (AVE values between 0.906 and 0.948). The model explained 61.3% of the variance in Behavioural Intention and 38.4% in Actual Use, indicating satisfactory explanatory power for a pilot study. These results confirm that the proposed instrument is psychometrically robust and contextually suitable for large-scale application. Findings also suggest that while professionals exhibit positive behavioural intentions toward BIM adoption, actual implementation remains constrained by limited training, non-mandatory policies, and fragmented organisational practices. The validated model provides a solid foundation for subsequent large-scale investigations and policy-oriented strategies to promote BIM-enabled waste minimisation in developing construction sectors.