Competencies for digitalisation-led circular economy in the Nigerian construction industry

Purpose – Digital tools are a critical enabler of the circular economy (CE) and sustainability practices in construction. While technological evolution has continued, there is a dearth of studies on the specific competencies required to drive digital technology (DT) integration in the CE transition in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to assess specific competencies required by the construction professionals to enable a digitalisation-led circular economy transition for sustainable development in the Nigerian construction industry (NCI). Design/methodology/approach – Twenty-nine competencies were obtained from a literature review and categorised into four groups, which informed the structured questionnaire used to collect 187 relevant responses from construction professionals in Nigeria. The gathered data yielded a reliability index of 0.829. They were analysed using mean analysis, coefficient of variation (CV), Kruskal–Wallis (K–W) test, Fuzzy Set Theory (FST) and Spearman correlation analysis. Findings – The descriptive analysis revealed that possessing the assessed competencies is significant for promoting digital technologies-driven CE transition in construction. The K–W test revealed no statistically significant difference in the perception of construction experts regarding the competencies. FST revealed that Digital Literacy and Technical Proficiency (index = 3.98), Management and Stakeholders Engagement Competencies (Index = 3.97), Data and Decision-Making Competencies (index = 3.94) and Understanding of CE Principles and Practices (Index = 3.90) were critical competencies clusters, and the correlation analysis showed that these competencies are significant in promoting a technology-led CE transition in construction. Originality/value – Studies on competencies for digitalisation and CE transition have remained fragmented in developing countries like Nigeria and are an underexplored domain in the literature. The study presents the outcomes of specific competencies for catalysing a digitalisation-led CE transition to drive a sustainable built environment in Nigeria.