Purpose The purpose of this paper is to carry out an exploratory investigation into the potential challenges to digital transformation for facilities management (FM). Design/methodology/approach The approach entails an exploratory study on the challenges in digital transformation in FM in Saudi Arabia. The study identified 25 challenges through the extant literature and consultations with industry professionals practicing in the FM sector in Saudi Arabia. Statistical analysis includes descriptive statistics and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Findings EFA yielded seven dominant factors that together account for 51.1% of the variance, including digital culture and technology, enterprise resource planning, market uncertainties, benefits and compensation, digital infrastructure, cost of implementation and job security. The descriptive statistics also revealed that respondents considered the most important challenges to be insufficient budget for implementation, unavailable research and development and lack of commitment from leadership. Originality/value This paper emphasizes the importance of digital transformation in the facility management industry to stay relevant in the digital economy. The paper highlights the various challenges responsible for unsuccessful digital transformation in FM. This study advances our knowledge of the key challenges to digital transformation in the FM industry and is of potential value to stakeholders in the domain of digital transformation, as well as practitioners and researchers in FM.
Sanni-Anibire et al. (Thu,) studied this question.