BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USE OF CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS FOR FACILITIES MANAGEMENT—A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS APPROACH

Abstract

The 4th industrial revolution (4IR) is transforming the traditional modes of systems delivery to be more effective and efficient. This is leveraged from the application of advanced technological methods which are attributed to sophisticated computational capabilities such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs). For facilities management (FM), the business environment features of any organisation play a vital role in attaining its objectives which is a core mandate in delivering the functions of FM. Hence, it is important to assess the business environment factors influencing the use of CPS in the delivery of FM functions. This study was conducted in Gauteng province in South Africa with the use of a structured questionnaire administered to built environment professionals. Collected data were analysed in five stages which include data reliability and validity, descriptive statistics, establishing a difference in groups’ opinion, principal component analysis, and model testing and fit statistics. Findings from the analysis revealed that business environment features were statistically significant in the actualisation of the use of CPS for FM. Conclusively, the findings from the study make both theoretical and practical contributions to the body of knowledge by providing insights that can help equip organisations with the knowledge of business environment factors that are influential in the use of CPS for FM.