Assessing the innovative skills and competencies required of construction management graduates

Abstract The construction industry has been experiencing high waves of revolutionised innovative technologies globally. These resulted from the highly innovative demands of the 4th industrial revolution (IR), which does not exclude the construction industry. These technologies do not rely on traditional design and build principles, and they require sophisticated skills and competencies. Currently, the construction industry is still struggling to find professionals with innovative competencies and the skills needed to manage the building lifecycle process. These have been a major concern in developing countries’ construction industry sector. Employers in the construction industry are now looking for construction management graduates (CMG) who are academically qualified and also possess considerable construction-related innovative skills and competencies in related technological software or tools. This study investigates the expected core skills and competence required by CMG. The methodology entails a well-structured systematic literature review, wherein 13 expected core competencies and 27 expected core skills were identified. Based on these, primary data were elicited through an online Google Forms survey distributed to professionals in the Nigerian construction industry. A total of 330 valid responses were obtained. Relative Important Index (RII) and principal component analysis (PCA) were carried out and presented. The result reveals the industry’s expectations and provides guidance to CMG seeking employment in the construction industry. Understanding the industry expectations and possessing the required core competencies will enable the CMG to remain relevant in the dynamic built environments. This study contributes to building information modelling (BIM) knowledge and the current innovative competencies and skills required in the built environment.