**4. Research Method**

## *4.1. Applying CSR for Sustainable Benefits of Green BIM Using SNA*

It turns out, then, that the green BIM is not only a combination with a purely technical environmental dimension but also a combination with a complex human aspect, which requires an overall social reference. This includes managing a large number of participants, including end-users with real environmental interests, as well as other interests associated with their connection to the building. Implementing green BIM through CSR may facilitate the social paradigm shift in the construction industry to achieve effectiveness for all involved. Reflecting green BIM performance on quantitative measures to assess the various interactions of a BIM combination in a green building project may be a significant tool for evaluating this application.

The research workflow outlined in Figure 2 presents the measures taken across the various parts of the research to present an applicable benchmark for broad social integration of BIM with green building. The study begins with a comprehensive review of the literature on green BIM to identify social characteristics and requirements for sustainable benefits. Different tools are examined in terms of social integration in order to achieve sustainable green building. The results illustrate the absence of effective integration between BIM and green building and the lack of suitable means for its evaluation (top row in Figure 2). This serves as the basis for the implementation of a CSR-based model for the BIM application, adapted to the IPD method and quantified by SNA. Based on the SNA indices for comparing actual results and optimal results—according to the standard—of the BIM system, the possibility of maximal integration of BIM with the green building is proposed. In addition, this systemic perception is examined using a participant questionnaire to assess the social sustainability benefits alongside effectiveness in a given project (middle row in Figure 2). Comparison and validation of this measure are conducted in nine case-studies, reflecting deferent types and stages of a project (the bottom line in Figure 2).

**Figure 2.** Outline of the research workflow.

### *4.2. The Case-Study Approach*

The index proposed in this paper is intended to serve as a means of measuring social integration in a green BIM in an attempt to realize its benefits. In order to demonstrate and evaluate the implementation of the Green BIM Index, the case-study approach is selected. This approach is considered most appropriate for this research inquiry, as it tries to construct realistic representations of project-related communications in uncontrolled surroundings [48]. In the absence of a comprehensive study on the social perception of BIM in green building projects, and in order to attain certainty [49], green building cases that incorporate BIM are selected to examine the possibility of achieving effectiveness in this building through this socio-technical system.

For a thorough examination of the model implementation, we have chosen to focus on public projects. In Israel, public projects are taking the main share of green BIM. The public sector is often characterized by the publication of project auctions in which it is owner-occupier—allowing accessibility to examine the implementation of all parts of the model, including involving end-users. The urban public sector usually allows the end-user community to be located, so we have chosen two municipal projects, which incorporate office dwellers or end-users at the planning stage. The two selected projects are located in cities that belong to the 15 cities forum that incorporates most of the largest cities in Israel, which has taken on the integration of green building. Both are designed by the same architect and by the same green building consultant, with the desire to integrate the constructor manager, so the selection has allowed a comparison on a similar basis. The government public sector is a major client in the construction industry that uses BIM and assimilates the green building principles through threshold requirements for tenders. This sector allows the examination of large-scale projects, so we have chosen to compare seven projects from it—two projects of each type/budget, stage, and even architectural teams at the same stage in a project. In this way, the selection allows for a broad comparison of BIM social implementation on an equal basis. The types of projects and the clear separation between the design phase and the execution phase in this sector have resulted in adapting the model to the different number of stakeholders in each. Table 4 shows the key characteristics of the carefully chosen projects. In the various cases selected, the attempt is to validate the findings of the proposed index with the results of the social benefit assessment and the effectiveness of incorporating BIM in green building. The following sections describe how data is collected and analyzed in an attempt to show how measurement is performed and confirmed.


**Table 4.** Characteristics of the projects.

### *4.3. Network Properties and Data Collection*

### 4.3.1. SNA Questionnaire

Setting up network properties is necessary to mirror the actual interactions and to display the relevant components for examining BIM applications in each project. Network boundaries are defined by the BIM communication platform for professionals and by all types of communications for tenants. Because the optimal model is implemented according to a given project, the boundaries include several tenants' representatives in urban projects—to express personnel involvement, as well as a

closed list of professionals required at different stages and types of government projects—to compare them. Data is collected through SNA questionnaires for actors, selected by case documents and interviews, which are senior representatives of the parties to the projects and are directly involved in their communication. The questionnaire presents a detailed list of actors from which actors are asked to choose the ones they communicate with in exchange for information. They are also requested to indicate their communication frequencies with them. The urban projects require extensive preparation work to find relevant representatives of office users. For this purpose, visits and background interviews are held. In one municipality, representatives of office users, selected by the municipality's management, are guided by feedback from all municipal employees. In a second municipality, the planning team includes elected representatives from departments and offices. The questionnaires are filled out via email correspondence and through telephone interviews. In the government projects, the questionnaires are filled out by telephone interviews with representatives of the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry, and with the owner-occupier representatives who worked with them (the questionnaire is presented in Appendix C). Data collected is transformed into the weighting of contacts (Table in Appendix D).

### 4.3.2. Participant Questionnaire

In order to determine the validity of the measure, questionnaires for project stakeholders are set. The questionnaires are based on frameworks and models presented in the literature for assessing social sustainability and benefits from BIM. In urban projects, access is given to various personnel teams during the planning stage. Their representatives, selected by them as having access to BIM, fill out the questionnaires (five from the City Hall project, three from the station project). In the government projects, representatives of all stakeholders fill the questionnaires. For comparing them—in terms of type and stage—at the conceptual planning stage and at the detailed planning stage, 12 stakeholders are required for a cafeteria-type project and 11 for a campus-type project. These include the BIM manager, architect, constructor, air conditioning, electricity and plumbing consultants, landscape architect, project manager/owner representative, energy modeling consultant, green building consultant, and tenant representative. A cafeteria-type project also requires a special consultant. At the construction stage, a contractor is added (13, 12, respectively). To cover all involved, experienced and inexperienced, in working with BIM, both subjective and objective assessments are combined. As part of their assessments, representatives are asked to rate, according to the Likert scale, the social benefits and effectiveness of BIM integration (1–5). In addition, objective project data is requested. Four questions deal with social aspects, including fairness, awareness, participation, and cohesion [33]. These elements are chosen because of the important conceptual presentation that identifies four general social concepts and links them to environmental imperatives. Five to seven questions, depending on the project stage, are related to subjective evaluation of a BIM implementation, which includes project quality improvement, better cost forecasting, quick client approval cycles, reduction of construction disputes, improvement of collective understanding of planning intent, reduction of construction changes, and reduction of RFI—request for information [50]. Two questions, intended for the project manager, are related to an objective evaluation of the BIM implementation and include highly mentioned metrics in the literature, schedules, and cost changes [51]. These calculation frameworks for analyzing the benefits of BIM are chosen because they summarize major subjective and objective parameters in the literature. In urban projects, where the reference is to the benefit of office users, the questionnaires are filled by a broad representation on their behalf. In the government projects, where the reference is to the benefit of involvement in various stages and types of projects, the questionnaires are filled out by all the representatives (the questionnaire is presented in Appendix E).

### *4.4. Data Analysis*

The social networks are analyzed using Gephi software [52]. Gephi is an open-source network analysis and visualization software package that has been used in a number of research projects [53]. Weighted-degree-centrality and cluster are used to specify connections, as well as the most connected nodes, especially with respect to key actors according to the IPD-adapted model: clients—including owners and tenants, architects and contractors, or alternatively, construction managers. In the government projects, the model is adapted to the project-delivery-method used, the design-bid-build method, which involves the contractor only during the construction stage. For each project, an optimal SNA model and an actual SNA model are prepared. The optimal models are based on the forms of information transfer, which make the most of BIM in terms of sharing and engagement. The preparation of the actual models requires data filling in two tables, one representing the frequency of information giving, and the other the frequency of receiving information. After specifying the information transfers, adjustments are made according to the frequency weight, and the data is entered in Gephi software. The results of the different SNA models are used for the index equations. The index is based on the understanding that each project has unique characteristics and different social composition. Therefore, it is formulated as a tool for quantitatively assessing the performance of each green building project in relation to its optimal workability with the BIM system. Along with these findings, the evaluations of the benefits and effectiveness from the integration into the BIM application are calculated. The findings and evaluations are compared to confirm the validity of the index in an attempt to emphasize the importance of promoting social integration in green BIM to achieve its effectiveness. Figure 3 visually shows the comparisons being conducted to examine whether the social benefit level has implications for green building effectiveness and whether this is reflected in the proposed index.

**Figure 3.** BIM application in terms of social benefit, effectiveness, and the proposed measure.
