Revisiting digital technology adoption in the construction industry: practice-informed, context-specific validation of existing knowledge

Purpose – Digital technology adoption in construction industry has attracted growing scholarly attention; however, critical gaps persist. Few studies simultaneously examine drivers and barriers across multiple digital technologies, contextualise adoption dynamics within developing or semi-peripheral economies, and link empirical findings to structured technology roadmapping. This study addresses these gaps by identifying drivers and barriers to digital technology adoption through a systematic literature review (SLR) and validating findings through a practice-informed Delphi process in Turkiye, a globally competitive but institutionally fragmented, semi-peripheral developing economy. Design/methodology/approach – A PRISMA-guided SLR using Scopus database (2015–2024) was combined with a two-round Delphi involving ten Turkish construction industry experts. Structured consensus formulation validates globally recognised drivers and barriers within a developing economy-context, supporting context-specific prioritisation as an input to technology roadmapping. Findings – The SLR identified safety (hazard identification) as the leading driver and operational costs as the primary barrier. Expert consensus through Delphi confirmed safety concerns as the foremost driver, while identifying financial resource constraints, not merely operational costs, as the primary barrier. Organisational and regulatory concerns outranked cost-related factors, indicating that institutional and governance dimensions hold greater salience in developing-economy contexts than is typically assumed in cost-focused adoption frameworks. Originality/value – This study offers practice-informed validation of existing knowledge, context-sensitive inputs for digitalisation and technology roadmapping in semi-peripheral developing economies. By applying globally recognised adoption factors through structured expert consensus, findings show that institutional and governance dimensions outweigh financial constraints in this context. This study provides an empirical, replicable, context-sensitive guidance informed by technology roadmapping, that can be utilised in developing-economy settings.