Key Initiatives for Digital Transformation, Green New Deal and Recovery after COVID-19 within the Construction Industry in Korea

Abstract

The low productivity of the construction industry has been identified as a chronic problem, and this has been exacerbated by recent environmental factors, including COVID-19 and climate change. As a response to these environmental changes, policies related to recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal have been established worldwide, and related projects have been launched. These three issues may seem to have different goals but they are interrelated, and guidelines for the direction of the construction industry should be outlined. In this study, key initiatives that need to be prioritized to successfully achieve the goals of the three issues are identified. Based on these, strategic directions and mid- to long-term measures to address environmental changes are suggested. This study surveys the perceptions of construction experts to establish the key initiatives via the analytic hierarchy process method, and their expected utility was evaluated. This study is significant in that it analyzes how construction experts perceive environmental changes and contributes to the development of the construction industry by identifying key initiatives that should be undertaken.

1. Introduction

The construction industry has often been recognized as having low productivity compared with other industries [1], and it has recently faced environmental issues such as COVID-19 and climate change. The increasing environmental problems, excessive use of natural resources, and high energy consumption have put severe pressure on the construction industry to adopt new methods in response to these challenges [2]. Though various solutions have been proposed in the past, labor productivity improvement in construction has averaged 1 percent a year over the past two decades, compared with 3.6 percent in other manufacturing industries [1]. In particular, due to COVID-19, the construction industry has experienced a decrease in order volume, disruption to supply chains, and difficulties in operating construction sites [3,4]. In addition, due to the climate crisis and the resulting international prioritization of a reduction in carbon emissions, the construction industry, which accounts for 35 percent of total energy consumption and 38 percent of energy-related CO₂ emission worldwide, is required to adapt accordingly [5,6].

To respond to these global changes, construction companies and researchers have sought various solutions. Concerning COVID-19, scholars have argued that it will be impossible to completely return to the previous state and that a new way of life must be found [7]. As such, the construction industry is looking to change production and work methods to recover from COVID-19 and to develop response systems in the event of similar disasters in the future [8]. Because the existing low productivity and the economic consequences of COVID-19 are intertwined, it has been suggested that the construction industry should pursue innovation through digital-based changes to the industrial structure, including the adoption of various digital technologies and digital transformation across the construction process [9]. In addition, in response to the climate crisis, the construction industry is promoting projects related to zero energy in buildings and eco-friendly and renewable energy following Green New Deal policies for carbon neutrality.

Governments worldwide have established a range of policies and developed projects in line with recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal. To ameliorate the damage to the construction industry due to COVID-19, the governments of major countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and Japan have implemented various measures related to construction sites. For digital transformation, countries such as the US, China, Germany, Japan, and the UK have established policies for digital industrial innovation to improve economic structural innovation, job creation, and industrial competitiveness. In particular, the construction industry has been identified as a useful target for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation policies. Finally, the Green New Deal has been introduced to prevent economic decline. Accordingly, the EU, the US, and China have proposed Green New Deal policies such as fostering the eco-friendly energy industry under government leadership and making large-scale investments.

Construction workers, researchers, and the government are thus involved in a number of policies and projects related to recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, but these three issues are interrelated and affect each other. In particular, it is possible that COVID-19 will accelerate the changes (e.g., digital transformation and the Green New Deal) already underway in the construction industry [8,10]. According to [8], the digitalization of the construction industry will become a major irreversible change due to COVID-19, and digitalization is essential to overcome stagnant productivity. COVID-19 has also provided an opportunity to raise public awareness of environmental and health issues, leading many of the world’s major economies to plan their recovery after COVID-19, focusing on a decarbonized economy [10]. Some researchers have insisted that a paradigm shift centered on the Green New Deal is required due to concerns about a possible economic slowdown once the COVID-19 pandemic recedes.

Despite this global paradigm shift, there are few clear directions or guidelines for the construction industry to move forward, and a systematic strategy is lacking. In particular, because recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal are interrelated, the key initiatives that are required for each issue may overlap or even counteract each other. Therefore, this study intends to identify priority initiatives for recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal and suggest short- to long-term strategic directions in response to the rapidly changing environment.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Recovery after COVID-19

COVID-19 first emerged in December 2019, leading to negative economic and social consequences worldwide. In the construction industry, the delay and suspension of construction projects emerged as major problems increasing uncertainty, and various policies have been implemented to minimize the damage [11]. A number of major countries have instituted measures associated with construction costs and the construction period and have supported construction companies through subsidies and tax relief [3,11,12,13,14]. In particular, in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US, work on all construction sites was suspended, and low-interest loans were provided to small businesses and non-profit organizations. In addition, the government invested 2 trillion dollars in infrastructure as part of its emergency response to COVID-19. The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) demanded that the Canadian government clarify its methods of support, issue guidelines for construction workers, and establish clear regulations regarding delays in public contracts. It also provided temporary wage subsidies to small employers. Australia has also published guidelines for responding to COVID-19 and provided employment subsidies for small and medium-sized enterprises with revenue of less than $50 million. In the UK, the payment of VAT for all businesses, including construction companies, was delayed for about three months, and a policy on public procurement was announced that included information on prompt payment, advance payment for contracts, and changes to contract details. In Japan, construction companies were permitted to suspend construction, with instructions issued related to construction costs and the extension of the contract period. In addition, the operation of small and medium-sized construction companies was supported financially. In addition to these measures, several previous studies have suggested establishing a disaster response system, revitalizing production methods and technology development, and establishing new safety practices as mid- to long-term measures for the construction industry in response to COVID-19 [3,4,11,12,13,14].

2.2. Digital Transformation

Digital transformation has been defined in a number of different ways but, in general, it refers to process improvement using digital technologies [15,16,17,18,19,20]. Digital transformation in the construction industry aims to innovate and improve productivity by employing digital technologies during the construction process [21]. The technologies expected to lead the digital transformation of the construction industry include building information modeling (BIM), prefabrication and modular construction, autonomous construction, big data and predictive analysis, internet of things (IoT), smart buildings, geo-enabled, digital twin, and 3D printing [9,22]. The digital transformation technologies will contribute to productivity improvement, increased safety and risk mitigation, high-quality building, and improved collaboration by collecting, analyzing, and using data of the whole supply chain in the construction industry. Many countries are making efforts to establish policies and strategies that can induce the activation of digital construction at the national level, improve related regulations, and change the existing ordering system and procurement process [21,23,24]. In the US, smart city plans and private company-centered policies have been implemented in accordance with the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing. In Germany, positive consequences from smart factories are expected in accordance with the Industry 4.0 and Digital Strategy 2025 policy. In the UK, smart construction and digital design under Construction 2025 aim to reduce the gap between imports and exports in the construction sector by 50%. In addition, according to the I-Construction strategy, Japan has set the goal of increasing productivity by 20% by 2025 through the use of ICT in the construction process. In addition to these existing measures, several previous studies and reports have emphasized the importance of workforce training, corporate support, and digital platforms for the success of digital construction [21,23,24,25,26].

2.3. Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is a concept inspired by the New Deal policy promoted by President Roosevelt for socio-economic reform during the Great Depression in 1932, which was grounded in Keynesian economic theory [27]. The Green New Deal, a countermeasure to the climate crisis, refers to a transformational investment aimed at a decarbonized economy and society. The Green New Deal first emerged in the US and the UK in 2007 to respond to the financial crisis, climate change, and high oil prices [28]. The Green New Deal policies and initiatives for a range of countries have been described in previous studies and reports, and the necessity of the Green New Deal for the transition to sustainability has been emphasized [10,29,30,31,32,33,34]. The US aims to achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net zero by 2050 and plans to invest $1.7 trillion in the federal budget in the Green New Deal by 2035 [31]. The European Green Deal has also been introduced with the vision of making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050, with the EU Commission announcing the investment of more than 1 trillion euros to implement the policy [30]. The UK announced the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 and create up to 25 types of green jobs, with a planned investment of £12 billion [35]. Korea has also proposed a Korean version of the New Deal to offset the impact of COVID-19 and promote economic growth. One of the two elements of this policy is the Green New Deal, with an initial budget of ₩160 trillion [10]. Furthermore, Japan has established a green growth strategy to develop a low-carbon society to overcome the economic recession and address the aging population, with a ¥2 trillion green fund set aside for carbon-neutral industrial strategies [36]. Although China has not yet established a Green New Deal policy, it has responded to climate change through infrastructure policies using advanced and eco-friendly technologies [36].

2.4. Research Gap

Worldwide attention has focused on recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, with various countries planning and implementing related policies and strategies. Although the three issues appear to be different problems on the surface, they have the common goal of enhancing industrial competitiveness and sustainability to solve global problems such as the recent intensification of climate change, financial crises, and low growth. In particular, the construction industry is strongly associated with these three issues because it consumes a significant proportion of total energy and requires extensive labor and time resources. In addition, because these issues influence each other through interaction, it is necessary to plan and implement policies and strategies that consider all three. Despite this, there has been insufficient research on how the construction industry can address these three issues. Thus, it is important to prioritize key initiatives that can be used to set the direction of the construction industry in relation to recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal.

3. Research Process and Methods

The purpose of this study is to set the strategic direction for the construction industry by selecting and prioritizing initiatives for the recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, which are currently major issues for the construction industry. An overview of the research process is provided in Figure 1. First, a group of candidate initiatives for each issue was established by examining the literature related to each issue. Several focus group meetings between the authors of this study and construction policy experts were then held to discuss these candidates, and five key initiatives for each issue were selected. Following this, a survey was conducted to collect the opinions of construction industry workers and researchers about these 15 key initiatives. Finally, the collected data was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the priority order for the initiatives.

AHP is a decision support method developed by [37] that aims to quantify the relative priority of a given alternative by comparing its relative importance with other individual options on a nine-point scale. This method has the advantage of organizing factors systematically and providing a structured but relatively simple solution to a decision-making problem [38]. Therefore, AHP has been used in the decision-making process in various fields.

4. Selecting Key Initiatives and Conducting the Survey

4.1. Key Initiatives for the Transformation of the Construction Industry

The authors held several focus group meetings with experts to determine key initiatives for the construction industry related to recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal. Before this, existing studies and reports from various countries related to these three issues were extensively reviewed. The following summarizes representative studies and reports.

Studies that have addressed recovery after COVID-19 have primarily focused on emergency support for construction sites, measures to return construction companies to a standard operating environment, and mid- to long-term measures for the construction industry [3,4,11,12,13,14]. Specific measures for emergency support for construction sites have included early payment for public projects, expansion of the scope of use of occupational safety and health management expenses, improvement of regulations associated with the extension of the contract period and adjustments, temporary relief for working hours, and administrative support for material procurement and labor supply. In order to assist construction companies in returning to normality, various measures have been proposed, such as expanding public funding and tax relief, setting appropriate construction costs for public projects, and preemptive investment in safety infrastructure. Mid- to long-term measures for the construction industry include the establishment of emergency response, procurement, and material supply systems, the promotion of innovative production methods and technological development, the revision of FIDIC international standard contract conditions, and a shift in work methods.

For the digital transformation of the construction industry, previous research has suggested that policies and systems related to digital construction technology should be improved, and measures to expand high-tech industry and convergence construction should be prepared [21,23,24,25,26]. In this regard, the nurturing of a new technical and skilled workforce, preparation of national standards and specifications for digital construction technology, the promotion of the application of the off-site construction (OSC) method—a construction method that completes buildings and facilities by producing elements and components of a construction project at different locations where they will be permanently installed and then transporting and installing them on-site (Figure 2), the introduction of policies for the dissemination of digital construction technology for small- and medium-sized companies, and the establishment of a foundation for data utilization have all been proposed as specific measures.

Prior research related to the Green New Deal has emphasized the green transition of urban, spatial, and living infrastructure, the expansion of low-carbon energy, and the establishment of innovative green industry ecosystems [10,29,30,31,32]. The introduction of green remodeling, strengthening of building maintenance services, and development of comprehensive measures for greening infrastructure have all been mentioned as measures for the green transition of urban, spatial, and living infrastructure. To promote the wider use of low-carbon energy, financial support for the development and use of new and renewable energy, the widespread use of zero-energy buildings, and the establishment of low-carbon, eco-friendly construction sites have been described. In addition, to establish innovative green industry ecosystems, the establishment of OSC production systems, the establishment of green-oriented ordering and contracting systems, and the green conversion of input resources for construction have been discussed.

By synthesizing the opinions of the authors of this study and experts and the findings of previous research, five key initiatives were selected for each of the three issues, i.e., recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, leading to a total of 15 initiatives (

Table 1. Key initiatives for each target issue.

Main Issue	Key Initiative and Summary	References
Recovery after COVID-19 (RC)	(RC1) Expansion of public funds and tax relief. When it is difficult to conduct regular business due to an epidemic, the government and financial institutions offer wider financial support and reduce tax	[3,11,12,13,14]
	(RC2) International cooperation for material procurement and labor supply Prepare measures for cooperation between countries, such as simplifying customs procedures to support the supply and demand of materials and workforce smoothly in the event of an epidemic disaster	[3,4,11,12]
	(RC3) Revision of contractual provisions related to infectious diseases Within the standard contract terms at home and abroad, infectious diseases are included as a part of force majeure due to the disruption to construction	[11,14]
	(RC4) Establishment of an emergency response system for disasters Development of systematic plans, manuals, and training programs for an emergency response to disasters such as epidemics	[4,11,13]
	(RC5) Technological development for the modification of production and work methods Technological development and support systems to create smart production technologies such as OSC, building information modeling (BIM), and automated construction and the expansion of non-face-to-face work methods	[3,4,11,12,13,14]
Digital transformation (DT)	(DT1) Producing the engineers and craftsmen required for digital transformation Training of field technicians participating in construction and the development of professional engineers in each field to carry out digital transformation	[21,23]
	(DT2) Establishment of digital construction technology standards and specifications Establishment of design, data, estimation, and related construction standards and procedures for digital construction technology	[21,24]
	(DT3) Advances based on data utilization such as BIM Establishment of databases for the entire construction process, including BIM, which is the basis for digital transformation, and the introduction of an open support platform	[21,24,25]
	(DT4) Supporting digital technology and development and fostering specialized companies Implementation of support for the promotion of digital construction technology development and policies to foster related specialized companies	[21,23,26]
	(DT5) Improvement in the laws/regulations related to digital construction technology Improvement in the laws/regulations and procurement processes to promote the use of digital construction technology	[21,23,24,25]
Green New Deal (GND)	(GND1) Promotion of zero energy building technology Technical support such as facilities, materials, and construction methods for zero energy in existing and new buildings and the collection of related big data	[29,31,33]
	(GND2) Encourage the introduction of new and renewable energy Expansion of policies such as financial support to promote the introduction of new and renewable energy and clean energy in buildings and facilities	[10,31,33]
	(GND3) Strengthening the building maintenance support system Reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of buildings subject to maintenance and the establishment of a smart building maintenance platform to support this	[32,33]
	(GND4) Support for the green transition of infrastructure facilities Green transition of social infrastructure facilities and the establishment of a smart infrastructure management system to support this	[10,29,33]
	(GND5) Expansion of the green remodeling industry Establish systems and policies to encourage green remodeling within the public and private sectors, provide financial support, and introduce a business expansion model	[10,29,30,32,33]

).

4.2. Questionnaire Survey

A survey was conducted with construction-related experts on the 15 selected key initiatives. The survey was conducted from October 22 to November 10, 2021. A total of 161 questionnaires were distributed via e-mail, and 130 questionnaires were recovered. To ensure the reliability of the study, 95 valid responses with a consistency ratio (CR) index of 0.2 or less, which is considered to be a range of acceptable levels of consistency in AHP [39], were analyzed.

Table 2. Summary of the survey.

Survey Period	22 October–10 November 2021
Survey Respondents	95 experts in the construction industry
	Work experience
	More than 15 years  10 to 15 years  5 to 10 years  Less than 5 years	58 (61.1%) 18 (18.9%) 16 (16.8%) 3 (3.2%)
	Sector
	Industrial  Academic	50 (52.6%) 45 (47.4%)
Survey Content	1. Relative importance of the three issues: (A) recovery after COVID-19, (B) digital transformation, and (C) the Green New Deal 2. Relative importance of the 15 key initiatives 3. Expected utility of the 15 key initiatives in the short term 4. Expected utility of the 15 key initiatives in the long term

shows the summary of the survey and its respondents.

5. Results

5.1. Prioritization of the Key Initiatives

To prioritize the initiatives for the three major issues facing the construction industry, i.e., recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, the relative importance of these issues was analyzed by comparing them on a nine-point scale. As a result of the analysis, the weight for digital transformation (DT) was the largest (0.5551), followed by the Green New Deal (GND; 0.2972), and recovery after COVID-19 (RC; 0.1477), thus indicating a clear difference in importance of the three issues. When dividing the respondents into academics (n = 45) and industry experts (n = 50), there was no change in priorities, and the weights were similar (

Table 3. Pairwise comparison of the three main issues.

Main Issue	All		Academics		Industry Experts
	Weight	Ranking	Weight	Ranking	Weight	Ranking
RC	0.148	3	0.149	3	0.147	3
DT	0.555	1	0.554	1	0.555	1
GND	0.297	2	0.297	2	0.298	2
Sum	1.000	-	1.000	-	1.000	-

).

The importance of each key initiative was expressed as the normalized weight, which was the product of the weight for the issue and that for the initiative itself.

Table 4. Normalized weights and ranking of key initiatives.

Main Issue		15 Key Initiatives
Issue	Weight	Code	Normalized Weight	Ranking
Recovery after COVID-19 (RC)	0.148	RC1	0.021	15
		RC2	0.028	13
		RC3	0.024	14
		RC4	0.036	12
		RC5	0.038	11
Digital transformation (DT)	0.555	DT1	0.095	5
		DT2	0.107	3
		DT3	0.108	2
		DT4	0.098	4
		DT5	0.147	1
Green New Deal (GND)	0.297	GND1	0.072	6
		GND2	0.046	10
		GND3	0.065	7
		GND4	0.052	9
		GND5	0.063	8
Sum	1.000	-	1.000	-

shows the normalized weights for the 15 key initiatives based on AHP. For all respondents combined, the improvement in the laws/regulations related to digital construction technology (DT5) had the highest priority. This was followed by, in order, advances based on data utilization such as BIM (DT3), the establishment of digital construction technology standards and specifications (DT2), support for digital technology and development and fostering of specialized companies (DT4), and producing the engineers and craftsmen required for digital transformation (DT1). The five most highly prioritized initiatives were related to digital transformation because this issue had the largest weight. In addition, because the weight for the Green New Deal was almost twice as high as that for recovery after COVID-19, the key initiatives ranked from 6 to 10 were related to the Green New Deal, and those from 11 to 15 were associated with recovery from COVID-19.

When comparing the rankings for the academics and industry experts, both groups selected DT5 as the highest priority and the top five key initiatives were related to digital transformation. However, there were some differences between the two sectors for some initiatives (

Table 5. Normalized weights and ranking of key initiatives by academics and industry experts.

Academics					Industry Experts
Main Issue		Key Initiatives			Main Issue		Key Initiatives
Issue	Weight	Code	Normalized Weight	Ranking	Issue	Weight	Code	Normalized Weight	Ranking
RC	0.1492	RC1	0.018	15	RC	0.1468	RC1	0.024	15
		RC2	0.026	13			RC2	0.030	12
		RC3	0.023	14			RC3	0.026	14
		RC4	0.035	12			RC4	0.037	11
		RC5	0.048	10			RC5	0.030	13
DT	0.5539	DT1	0.089	4	DT	0.5554	DT1	0.100	5
		DT2	0.103	3			DT2	0.110	3
		DT3	0.110	2			DT3	0.105	4
		DT4	0.083	5			DT4	0.113	2
		DT5	0.169	1			DT5	0.128	1
GND	0.2969	GND1	0.075	6	GND	0.2978	GND1	0.070	6
		GND2	0.042	11			GND2	0.049	10
		GND3	0.069	7			GND3	0.061	8
		GND4	0.054	9			GND4	0.050	9
		GND5	0.058	8			GND5	0.068	7
Sum	1.0000	-	1.000	-	Sum	1.0000	-	1.000	-

). For example, DT3 was the second most important initiative for academics and only the fourth for industry experts. In addition, DT4 was the fifth and second most important initiative for academics and industry experts, respectively. In addition, there was a different opinion about technological development for the modification of production and work methods (RC5). The academics ranked its importance 10th, compared with 13th for the industry experts.

5.2. Expected Utility of the Key Initiatives

In addition to the normalized weights, the expected short-term and long-term utility was evaluated for the 15 key initiatives. Whereas the normalized weights ranked the importance of each initiative, the expected utility aims to evaluate the expected effects of each initiative in the short term and the long term. The expected utility was assessed on a 10-point scale, and the expected utility score was calculated as the arithmetic average of the evaluation scores for each initiative. By multiplying the normalized weight and the expected utility score, the overall importance ranking of the initiatives was determined.

As shown in

Table 6. Evaluation of the expected utility of the key initiatives in the short term.

Code	Normalized Weight	Normalized Weight Ranking	Expected Utility Score (Standard Deviation)	Priority Score	Ranking
RC1	0.021	15	6.011 (2.276)	0.127	15 (-)
RC2	0.028	13	5.368 (2.073)	0.151	13 (-)
RC3	0.024	14	5.305 (2.274)	0.129	14 (-)
RC4	0.036	12	5.916 (2.062)	0.214	11 (▽)
RC5	0.038	11	4.968 (2.002)	0.187	12 (▽)
DT1	0.095	5	5.190 (1.991)	0.495	5 (-)
DT2	0.107	3	5.926 (1.991)	0.633	2 (△)
DT3	0.108	2	5.747 (1.873)	0.621	3 (▽)
DT4	0.098	4	5.274 (1.735)	0.517	4 (-)
DT5	0.147	1	6.253 (2.467)	0.917	1 (-)
GND1	0.072	6	5.295 (1.912)	0.383	6 (-)
GND2	0.046	10	4.779 (2.053)	0.218	10 (-)
GND3	0.065	7	5.295 (2.067)	0.343	8 (▽)
GND4	0.052	9	4.884 (1.945)	0.253	9 (-)
GND5	0.063	8	5.726 (2.151)	0.360	7 (△)

△ symbol means rank up, ▽ symbol means rank down, and - symbol means no change in rank.

, when combining the expected short-term utility for each initiative with the normalized weights to produce an overall priority score, the highest-ranking priority remained the same (DT5) compared with the original normalized weight ranking. There were some minor differences between the two rankings (e.g., changes in position between DT2 and DT3, GND5 and GND3, and RC4 and RC5), but overall they were very similar.

When comparing the short-term priority rankings for the academics and industrial expert respondents to the survey, the top five initiatives were the same (

Table 7. Evaluation of the expected utility of the key initiatives in the short term for academics and industry experts.

Code	Academics			Industry Experts
	Normalized Weight Ranking	Priority Score	Ranking	Normalized Weight Ranking	Priority Score	Ranking
RC1	15	0.109	15 (-)	15	0.144	13 (△)
RC2	13	0.139	13 (-)	12	0.161	12 (-)
RC3	14	0.129	14 (-)	14	0.127	15 (▽)
RC4	12	0.207	11 (△)	11	0.218	11 (-)
RC5	10	0.269	10 (-)	13	0.131	14 (▽)
DT1	4	0.443	5 (▽)	5	0.539	5 (-)
DT2	3	0.643	2 (△)	3	0.616	2 (△)
DT3	2	0.628	3 (▽)	4	0.608	3 (△)
DT4	5	0.452	4 (△)	2	0.577	4 (▽)
DT5	1	1.122	1 (-)	1	0.755	1 (-)
GND1	6	0.426	6 (-)	6	0.345	7 (▽)
GND2	11	0.190	12 (▽)	10	0.245	9 (△)
GND3	7	0.397	7 (-)	8	0.298	8 (-)
GND4	9	0.284	9 (-)	9	0.226	10 (▽)
GND5	8	0.358	8 (-)	7	0.359	6 (△)

△ symbol means rank up, ▽ symbol means rank down, and - symbol means no change in rank.

). However, there was a difference of opinion regarding the importance of the sixth to fifteenth most important initiatives. The most significant difference of opinion was over RC5, which ranked tenth for academics and fourteenth for industry experts. In addition, promoting new and renewable energy (GND2) was ranked twelfth by the academics and ninth by the industrial experts.

In contrast, for long-term utility, the normalized weight ranking and the priority ranking were the same (

Table 8. Evaluation of the expected utility of the key initiatives in the long term.

Code	Normalized Weight	Normalized Weight Ranking	Expected Utility Score (Standard Deviation)	Priority Score	Ranking
RC1	0.021	15	5.190 (2.233)	0.110	15 (-)
RC2	0.028	13	6.284 (1.950)	0.177	13 (-)
RC3	0.024	14	5.726 (2.013)	0.140	14 (-)
RC4	0.036	12	6.063 (2.221)	0.220	12 (-)
RC5	0.038	11	7.347 (1.983)	0.277	11 (-)
DT1	0.095	5	7.211 (1.624)	0.687	5 (-)
DT2	0.107	3	7.000 (1.781)	0.748	3 (-)
DT3	0.108	2	7.274 (1.653)	0.786	2 (-)
DT4	0.098	4	7.211 (1.713)	0.707	4 (-)
DT5	0.147	1	7.295 (2.015)	1.070	1 (-)
GND1	0.072	6	6.737 (1.835)	0.487	6 (-)
GND2	0.046	10	6.358 (2.163)	0.290	10 (-)
GND3	0.065	7	6.526 (1.786)	0.422	7 (-)
GND4	0.052	9	6.585 (2.035)	0.341	9 (-)
GND5	0.063	8	6.390 (1.969)	0.402	8 (-)

△ symbol means rank up, ▽ symbol means rank down, and - symbol means no change in rank.

). The academics and industry experts differed in their priority rankings for several initiatives when the long-term utility was considered (

Table 9. Evaluation of the expected utility of key initiatives in the long term for academics and industry experts.

Code	Academics			Industry Experts
	Normalized Weight Ranking	Priority Score	Ranking	Normalized Weight Ranking	Priority Score	Ranking
RC1	15	0.087	15 (-)	15	0.133	15 (-)
RC2	13	0.161	13 (-)	12	0.191	13 (▽)
RC3	14	0.126	14 (-)	14	0.150	14 (-)
RC4	12	0.208	12 (-)	11	0.227	11 (-)
RC5	10	0.381	8 (△)	13	0.204	12 (△)
DT1	4	0.632	4 (-)	5	0.733	5 (-)
DT2	3	0.700	3 (-)	3	0.785	3 (-)
DT3	2	0.809	2 (-)	4	0.757	4 (-)
DT4	5	0.582	5 (-)	2	0.833	2 (-)
DT5	1	1.245	1 (-)	1	0.924	1 (-)
GND1	6	0.501	6 (-)	6	0.474	6 (-)
GND2	11	0.254	11 (-)	10	0.324	9 (△)
GND3	7	0.472	7 (-)	8	0.380	8 (-)
GND4	9	0.365	9 (-)	9	0.318	10 (▽)
GND5	8	0.359	10 (▽)	7	0.443	7 (-)

△ symbol means rank up, ▽ symbol means rank down, and - symbol means no change in rank.

). The most significant difference of opinion was RC5, which ranked eighth for academics and twelfth for industry experts. The academics ranked DT4 and the expansion of the green remodeling industry (GND5) fifth and tenth, respectively, compared with second and seventh, respectively, for the industrial experts.

6. Discussion

Figure 3 summarizes the priority ranking of the 15 key initiatives overall (middle column) and for the academic and industrial expert respondents individually (left and right columns, respectively). The thickness of the lines represents the difference in the ranking between the academics and industry experts; the thinnest line represents no difference in rank, whereas the thickest line represents a difference of two ranks or more.

6.1. Digital Transformation

The weight for digital transformation was 0.5551, the highest of the three issues. This means that many of the respondents thought that digital transformation should be prioritized for the development of the construction industry. There has been consistent effort to introduce digital transformation to improve the productivity of the construction industry, but its importance has significantly increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative associated with digital transformation with the highest weight was the improvement in the laws/regulations related to digital construction technology (DT5), suggesting that there are limitations to the existing laws/regulations for the promotion and implementation of tasks related to digital transformation. It is thus necessary at the government level to implement policies that can alleviate regulatory obstacles, if any, and encourage digital transformation. Previous studies have also argued that the revision of regulatory factors in laws related to digital transformation is required and that policies that promote digital transformation at the government level are needed [21,23]. In addition, some studies have suggested that the public procurement process needs to be adjusted and digitalized [24,25]. Moreover, both the academics (w = 0.1688) and industry experts (w = 0.1280) ranked DT5 the highest, though the academics assigned it a higher weight because it is closely related to policy research.

The second-highest digital transformation initiative was advanced based on data utilization such as BIM (DT3). Recently, through big data analysis using AI, it is possible to identify the current status of an issue and solve problems efficiently. The construction industry uses data for decision-making in process management, maintenance, and safety management, thus it is expected that productivity will increase with the use of big data. It is thus necessary to develop a platform that can easily access and utilize all data related to construction. Existing literature has mainly focused on BIM [21,24,25], but the source and range of data need to be extended. The academics considered the initiative to be more important than the industry experts did, which is presumably because such a data platform serves as a foundation for the promotion and implementation of tasks such as revising laws/regulations, and this is highly relevant to policy researchers.

The third most highly weighted key initiative was the establishment of digital construction technology standards and specifications (DT2), which was closely related to DT5 and DT3. If laws and systems are established and revised for digital transformation and a data utilization platform is established, standards for new digital construction technology and data should be established. Existing literature has also argued that standards for new designs, estimation, and construction should be set according to digital transformation [21]. In addition, the standardization of goods, works, and services is also an essential step in digitizing the public procurement process [24].

The next highest ranking digital transformation initiative was supporting digital technology and development and fostering specialized companies (DT4). Because digital transformation is regarded as a new paradigm in the construction industry, support for related companies and experts has become necessary. Companies operate according to the policy directions of the government, and they need to develop new technologies that suit these policies. However, most companies are limited in their ability to accommodate these changes independently, so a certain level of government support is required. Past research has also argued that it is necessary to foster specialized companies related to digital technology [21,23], particularly small and medium-sized companies [26]. It should be noted that there was a significant difference of opinion between the academics (ranked fifth) and industry experts (ranked second) for DT4.

Finally, producing engineers and craftsmen for digital transformation (DT1) was ranked fifth. When a platform for digital transformation is established and new construction technologies are developed, experts are needed to utilize them, thus it is necessary to train and supply the appropriate workers for this. It has been predicted that there will be greater demand for a workforce consisting of workers who are capable of multi-tasking, digital technology experts, those who can adapt to technological change, and leaders who are eager to explore and invest in new technologies [21,23]. The academics ranked this initiative in fourth place, probably because it is more interested in the education and training of the professional workforce than are industry experts.

6.2. Green New Deal

The Green New Deal had the second-highest weight (w = 0.2972) of the three issues. It first emerged as a countermeasure to the climate crisis in the early 2000s with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It has also recently attracted more attention as a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic [10].

The Green New Deal initiative with the highest weight was the promotion of zero-energy building technology (GND1). Zero-energy buildings are a primary focus of the Green New Deal. Currently, the goal of making zero-energy private and public buildings mandatory has been set and various zero-energy building certification systems have been employed in different countries. Because the governments of many countries are actively promoting related policies, it can be assumed that the high level of awareness of industry experts is associated with the importance of the initiative. Past studies have argued that there is a need to employ databases related to building energy use, passive energy principles, advanced efficiency measures, and on-site renewable energy in order to promote zero-energy building technologies [31,33]. Moreover, it has been suggested that, in addition to the building level, policies designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the city level are also needed [29].

The second-highest ranked Green New Deal initiative was strengthening the building maintenance support system (GND3). New buildings are designed and constructed according to the zero-energy certification system. However, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, existing buildings also need to be converted to zero-energy buildings. To this end, establishing a platform that can collect and utilize data to maintain existing buildings should be achieved first. Previous research has also emphasized the maintenance of existing buildings and argued that establishing a platform for this purpose is required [33]. For both GND1 and GND3, the use of big data and the establishment of a building maintenance platform are required before related technologies can be disseminated. Therefore, these initiatives are closely associated with digital transformation, explaining their high ranking in the context of the Green New Deal.

The expansion of the green remodeling industry (GND5), which is closely related to GND3, was ranked third among the Green New Deal initiatives. It is essential to improve the energy performance of existing buildings, which account for a large proportion of the total number of buildings, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Green remodeling is considered effective because it is economical compared with new construction and can improve the performance of buildings that are older than the related building energy-related certification system. Several studies have also stated that to ensure the success of the Green New Deal, it is necessary to improve energy performance via the green remodeling of existing public and private buildings [10,29,30,32,33].

The Green New Deal initiative ranked fourth was support of the green transition of infrastructure facilities (GND4). The top three initiatives all focus on buildings, but support for greening must also be conducted at the city level for successful Green New Deal effects to be realized. Existing literature has argued that smart monitoring and maintenance systems for infrastructure should be established and disseminated for urban greening [10,29,31,33].

Finally, introducing new and renewable energy (GND2) was the lowest-ranked Green New Deal initiative. This could be because the use of renewable energy has been increasing for several decades, and it has now become established as a mainstream energy source with national support. However, researchers have argued that related industries should be continuously nurtured, R&D should be expanded, and measures to employ renewable energy in buildings and facilities should be implemented [10,31,33].

6.3. Recovery after COVID-19

The need for recovery after COVID-19 has been emphasized since it first emerged, and it is a problem that the construction industry must address. However, recovery after COVID-19 had a lower weight (w = 0.1477) than did digital transformation and the Green New Deal.

The COVID-19 recovery initiative with the highest weight was technological development for the modification of production and work methods (RC5). This reflects the growing demand for non-face-to-face work methods due to COVID-19 and the importance of smart production technologies such as OSC, BIM, and automated construction, which have already been introduced. It also indicates that respondents think the change in production technology and work methods will minimize the damage caused by COVID-19 and improve productivity. Previous researchers have also emphasized the importance of technological development within the construction industry to cope with the pandemic and the evolution of production technology and work methods to improve productivity and profit levels [13,14]. Some have argued that these technologies are important in establishing new standards for construction technology, such as AI, the use of drones and robots, OSC, and 3D printing [3,4].

The second-highest ranked COVID-19 recovery initiative was the expansion of public funds and tax relief (RC1). The construction industry has suffered enormous damage due to COVID-19 and the need for countermeasures has been recognized. Therefore, once COVID-19 is under control, it will still be necessary to establish an emergency response system for disasters caused by infectious disease and climate change. Researchers have stated that it is necessary to establish a risk management framework for the construction industry and plan countermeasures against infectious disease to ameliorate economic damage [13,14]. Standards should also be established for workplace hygiene measures, social distancing, overtime, and working hours [4]. Whereas RC5 and RC1 are key initiatives for the recovery after COVID-19, the digital transformation of the construction technology is a prerequisite for these initiatives to be realized. This reinforces the general importance of digital transformation in comparison to the other two issues.

International cooperation for material procurement and labor supply (RC2) was ranked third. One of the reasons for the damage to the construction industry due to COVID-19 has been the untimely delivery of materials and a lack of employees due to supply chain disruption, which led to delays in construction projects and economic problems. Therefore, it has been suggested that international cooperation should be pursued to prevent damage due to uncertainty [3,4,12].

The COVID-19 recovery initiative that was ranked fourth was the revision of contractual provisions related to infectious disease (RC3). The delay in material procurement, shortage of workers, and delays in delivery due to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 are inevitable, and both suppliers and customers suffer as a result. Therefore, it is necessary to establish new contractual provisions for infectious diseases starting with COVID-19. Past research has also argued that contractual regulations related to infectious diseases, including contract extensions, should be established [14].

Finally, the establishment of an emergency response system for disasters (RC4) was ranked fifth. The government and financial institutions need to provide public funds and tax relief to encourage the reopening of construction companies damaged by COVID-19 [3,12,13,14]. However, financial and tax relief policies take time to be implemented and often represent a temporary solution, which explains why the ranking was relatively low.

6.4. Expected Utility

Figure 4 presents the normalized weighted ranking of the key initiatives for all respondents and for academics and industrial experts individually based on expected short- and long-term utility. Unlike the academics, the industry experts ranked the key initiatives differently depending on whether expected short- or long-term utility was considered.

With the inclusion of expected utility, all five digital transformation initiatives maintained their top five rank. In particular, improvement in the laws/regulations related to digital construction technology (DT5), the highest-ranking digital transformation initiative, was considered the most important initiative in the short and long term by both academics and industry experts. On the other hand, DT4, which was ranked fourth in overall importance, was ranked fifth by academics and second by industry experts in the long term.

Compared with digital transformation, there was a more significant change in the rankings for the Green New Deal and COVID-19 recovery initiatives when the expected utility was considered. In particular, significant changes were observed in the expansion of the green remodeling industry (GND5), the introduction of new and renewable energy (GND2), and technological development for the modification of production and work methods (RC5). The overall importance of GND5 was ranked eighth, but the academics ranked it tenth in the long term, and the industry experts ranked it sixth in the short term and seventh in the long term. The overall importance of GND2 was ranked tenth, but in the short term, the academics ranked it twelfth. Finally, RC5 had the most prominent change in ranking. It was ranked eleventh in overall importance, whereas the academics ranked it eighth in the long term and the industry experts ranked it twelfth in the long term and fourteenth in the short term. This indicates that RC5 is more important to the academic sector than to industry experts in relation to recovery after COVID-19.

7. Conclusions

Based on a literature review, this study identified key initiatives for the recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal, which have recently become global issues that have greatly impacted the construction industry. In addition, a survey was conducted to investigate the opinions of construction industry experts regarding the key initiatives that should be prioritized given the global changes affecting the construction industry. These initiatives were then ranked using the AHP method, and the expected short- and long-term utility of the key initiatives was analyzed and the initiatives re-ranked.

It was found that construction industry experts believed that digital transformation was the most important of the three issues. Of the key initiatives, the improvement of laws/regulations related to digital construction technology was selected as the most important short- and long-term initiative by both academics and industry experts. Advances based on data utilization such as BIM, the establishment of digital construction technology standards and specifications, supporting digital technology and development, and fostering specialized companies were investigated as important key initiatives related to digital transformation in turn. This means that many of the respondents thought that digital transformation should be prioritized for the development of the construction industry. There has been a consistent effort to introduce digital transformation to improve the productivity of the construction industry, but its importance has significantly increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the key initiatives related to the Green New Deal and COVID-19 recovery, it was found that the promotion of zero energy building technology, building a maintenance support system, the expansion of the green remodeling industry, the technological development for the modification of production and work methods, the expansion of public funds and tax relief was important in turn. Unlike digital transformation, which has similar results in terms of expected short- and long-term utility, there was a more significant change in the rankings for the Green New Deal and COVID-19 recovery initiatives when the expected utility was considered. The short- and long-term utility of the expansion of the green remodeling industry and the introduction of new and renewable energy were ranked higher than importance by the industry experts. Technological development for the modification of production and work methods for the recovery after COVID-19, which was ranked eleventh in overall importance, was ranked eighth in the long-term utility by academics, and ranked twelfth in the long term and fourteenth in the short term by the industry experts.

This study is meaningful in that it analyzed how construction industry experts perceive recovery after COVID-19, digital transformation, and the Green New Deal. It also contributes to the development of the construction industry by identifying priority initiatives in the mid- to long term. These can be used for guidance in the establishment of related policies and are expected to ultimately help to improve the productivity of the construction industry.

It should be noted, however, that this study has a limitation in that the survey subjects were limited to Koreans. Therefore, a follow-up study on construction industry experts in countries such as the US, China, Germany, Japan, and the UK, which have established policies related to these three issues, is needed.