Possible Impacts of Smart Contracts on Construction Claim Management

Abstract

The information age and digital transformation challenge the construction industry's traditional business methods and current dynamics. Smart contracts are recently adopted in the construction industry to digitally facilitate the exchange of money, content, property, shares, and digitized asset. In this context, the usage of smart contracts is expected to impact the claims encountered in construction projects and the traditional claim management processes. This study aims to analyze the possible effects of smart contracts on construction claim management. A structured literature analysis was undertaken to determine the benefits that smart contracts may offer in this context. As a result, a research roadmap is developed to discuss the steps needed to integrate smart contracts in the construction claim management field. The study findings show that smart contracts may have considerable benefits in the claim management process including, record integrity, elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy, reliability of documents, reduction of transaction costs, and enhancing transparency.