Barriers hindering knowledge management in the Indian construction sector: a social network analysis

Purpose Knowledge management (KM) is essential for innovation and growth in construction, yet in India, fragmented practices and weak frameworks have slowed progress. Because existing research treats KM barriers as independent obstacles, this study investigates how these barriers interact and reinforce one another, applying social network analysis (SNA) to identify which barriers carry the greatest systemic influence and to establish where intervention is likely to have the broadest effect. Design/methodology/approach Following a structured literature review, 35 KM barriers were identified and refined through expert interviews. A structured questionnaire was sent to 352 professionals from academia and industry, yielding 150 valid responses. SNA was applied to the resulting correlation data to map how the barriers interrelate, and Principal Component Analysis was used to select the most representative centrality metric for ranking them. Findings The analysis identified three clusters of KM challenges: (1) Structural and Leadership Issues related to organizational inefficiencies, (2) Human and Cultural Resistance, highlighting reluctance to share knowledge and (3) Technological Barriers, reflecting gaps in tools and workflows. These findings offer practical interventions for construction firms to address these barriers holistically. Research limitations/implications The findings are context-specific to India and rely on self-reported data, which may limit generalizability. Further studies should validate these results through field applications. Practical implications The study offers a basis for prioritizing KM intervention in construction by cluster instead of by individual barrier, showing where leadership, technology, and cultural interventions are likely to have the greatest system-wide impact. It further underlines the importance of embedding KM within India's broader infrastructure governance context, where institutional fragmentation and the scale of ongoing development call for a coordinated, sector-level response, not firm-level fixes alone. Originality/value This research uniquely applies SNA to KM challenges in the construction context, moving beyond barrier ranking to map how barriers reinforce one another, and to identify where a small number of targeted interventions can be expected to produce the broadest improvement. The results offer valuable insights into collaborative practices and knowledge-sharing improvements.