Key enablers affecting blockchain technology adoption in construction industry: a bibliometric analysis and PESTLE framework approach

Purpose This study aims to explore key enablers affecting the adoption of Blockchain Technology (BCT) in the construction industry (CI) and to rank them based on their importance as well as to investigate their differences in opinions based on the gender as well as based on the job profile to find effective ways of successful adoption and implementation of BCT in Jordan. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory research perspective is applied to identify the critical enablers of BCT in the CI through an extensive literature review by conducting a bibliometric analysis. A questionnaire was constructed based on a comprehensive literature review to rank BCT enablers that were clustered based on the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental (PESTLE) framework by the relative importance index (RII) index. Moreover, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and T-test were the statistical tools to test the first hypothesis, while Kruskal–Wallis test to test the second hypothesis. Findings This study revealed the followings: (1) The total number of key enablers are 12 enablers clustered within the framework. (2) The PESTEL framework becomes Environmental, Political, Legal, Technological and Sociocultural (EEPLTS) based on the RII values ranked in the enablers. (3) There are no statistical differences based on gender toward the adoption of the BCT in the Jordanian CI except for the Legal enablers based on EFA and T-test. (4) There are no differences between the opinions based on the job profile regarding the ranking of the importance of the enablers. Originality/value This study identifies key enablers for blockchain adoption in construction, analyzes their importance by gender and job profile, and proposes a modified PESTLE framework based on their ranking.