Abstract

A firm’s performance is generally taken to be its profitability or growth. This study sought to ascertain the effects of the main barriers to IT use on the performance by construction firms in Malaysia. The survey questionnaire used was designed to assess the respondents’ mindsets. Sixty eight firms were interviewed using the revealed preference (RP) technique. From the data collected, correlations were done between the various IT barriers studied using Pearson’s 2-tailed test for attitude and perception. To fully grasp the objective, 9 variables involved in IT use were assessed. The most important variables found to affect the construction firms’ performance were investment costs too high, greater know-how required from staff, reduced security, insufficient interest/commitment from the management, and general attitude that the old ways of doing things have worked well throughout the years and changes are unnecessary, both scoring 45.6% in the “important” scale. The barriers identified may allow new ideas to increase IT use. The resultant respondent’s perception is the result of a complex interaction between all the factors involved. Matrix correlations were performed to gauge the relationships among the variables.