Original title: Bridging leadership competency gaps across different management levels to enable digital transformation in the construction industry
The researchers asked construction professionals which leadership skills matter and how well they perform them. They compared answers across four levels, from general staff to senior managers. Their analysis found different gaps at each level: for example, staff reported gaps in communication, while senior managers reported gaps in digital literacy. The study proposes a development pathway tailored to each level.
Imagine a team preparing a meal together, with people handling different jobs. One person struggles to share instructions, while another has trouble keeping track of costs. The hard part is that one lesson will not fix every person’s problem. In this paper, each job stands for a management level, and the different struggles stand for the leadership skills each level needs to develop.
Construction organisations pursuing digital transformation may need to develop different skills in different roles, rather than offer every leader the same training. The study identifies where professionals say their skills fall short, from staff communication to senior managers’ digital literacy.
The abstract reports survey responses and self-assessed performance, but does not say whether these ratings were independently verified or whether the proposed pathway was tested. It does not establish that addressing the identified gaps causes better digital transformation outcomes.
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Bridging leadership competency gaps across different management levels to enable digital transformation in the construction industry — Kaijun Yang, Riza Yosia Sunindijo, Cynthia Wang et al. — Construction Innovation — doi:10.1108/ci-12-2025-0550
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.