MODELING THE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROCESS IN THE THAI CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: A PILOT STUDY

Technology transfer (TT) has been defined as the shared responsibility between the source and the destination for ensuring that technology is accepted and at least understood by someone with the knowledge and resources to apply and/or use the technology. The adoption of TT in construction industries is necessary for economic growth to occur in developing countries such as Thailand. This process should provide numerous benefits for the host sector in areas such as increased productivity, enhancement of product quality, cost savings, improvements in market share and entry to new markets. However, there are many factors, which may impact on the TT process and its subsequent outcomes for Thai construction firms and individuals, including, the transfer environment, learning environment, transferor characteristics and transferee characteristics. The performance and interaction of these enablers will influence the degree of value added to the local construction sectors in areas such as economic advancement, knowledge advancement and project performance. This paper presents a conceptual framework for international TT that accommodates the numerous factors believed to impact on the processes effectiveness. Through a Pilot Study, where 27 industry professionals from Thailand were interviewed, the significant factors which impact on the TT process have been identified along with the strength of interrelationship between individual and groups of factors. Future research seeks to target a greater sample of respondents with the view to validate the conceptual model and apply it on a number of large Thai projects where international TT was incorporated into the project agreement.