PRIVATE DEVELOPERS’ PERCEIVED USEFULNESS OF THE PREFABRICATION TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA’S HOUSING DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY

Private developers in Nigeria’s housing development industry still face challenges of increasing housing stock, with a current housing deficit of 20 million units. Prefabrication, a known, yet unpopular housing construction method, has witnessed low usage. The effect of system characteristics on user acceptance of prefabrication technology is examined through the Perceived Usefulness (PU), of prefabrication system amongst private developers in the Nigerian housing development. The paper draws on the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the basis for investigation. A quantitative research approach and convenient sampling technique to select 400 private developers- members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) in Lagos and Abuja. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive analysis and Freidman’s ANOVA test. Findings showed that prefabrication amongst private developers in Nigeria is perceived as being highly useful for increasing housing stock. PU increases the degree of positivity toward usage, which subsequently triggers the intention to adopt.