Technological Innovation for Improving Construction Logistics

The Nigerian construction industry continues to experience severe logistics inefficiencies, with average technology adoption remaining at only 19%, compared with 89% in manufacturing. This contributes to persistent 20-43% cost overruns, material waste, and materials accounting for 50–60% of total project costs. This study aims to investigate two research questions: (i) How can globally established digital technologies (BIM, AI, IoT, and control towers) be adapted to address local barriers affecting construction logistics in Nigeria, particularly power unreliability, currency volatility, skills shortages, and regulatory voids? (ii) What drivers can accelerate the adoption of these technologies in developing-country contexts? Adopting a qualitative inductive case study design, the research employed non-participant observations of 72 material-order cycles across 15 purposively selected manufacturing, retailing, and construction organisations in Lagos, Abuja, and North-Central Nigeria. The findings reveal a 70% technology adoption gap, which is interpreted through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. Hybrid pilot observations demonstrated improved technology utilisation under modular, offline-capable deployment conditions, providing empirical support for an integrated four-phase adoption framework comprising Assessment, Hybrid Pilots, Consortium Control Tower, and Continuous AI Improvement. The framework is further supported by five interlocking implementation drivers: policy mandates, targeted skills development, shared industry consortia, digital financing mechanisms, and demonstration effects that emerged from the empirical analysis. If these observed patterns are sustained, the framework could plausibly increase technology utilisation from the observed 19% baseline towards an illustrative 65% projection, based on evidence from the 24-month observation period (2019 to 2020). The study extends TAM and DOI theory by incorporating developing-economy moderators, infrastructure reliability, regulatory voids, and cultural resistance into a context-specific implementation framework for Nigerian construction logistics. By shifting the focus from identifying adoption barriers to providing an empirically grounded implementation pathway, the study offers practical guidance for improving the efficiency, resilience, and sustainability of construction logistics in Nigeria and other emerging economies. The novelty lies in context-specific adaptation rather than the introduction of new digital technologies or theories.