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2026 Vol.17, Issue 2 Preview Page

General Article

Developing a data-driven competency framework and maturity model structure for modular construction designers
Woojae Kim1
,
Yonghan Ahn2*
1Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Smart City Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea
2Professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea
*Corresponding Author
30 June 2026. pp. 366-387
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Abstract

This study proposes a data-driven competency framework and maturity model design for modular construction designers in the digital transformation era. Modular construction is increasingly positioned as a strategic response to low productivity, skilled labor shortages, housing supply pressure, and carbon- neutral construction demands. However, the competencies required of designers who must integrate architectural design, factory production, transportation, installation, BIM-based coordination, and digital construction technologies remain insufficiently structured. To address this gap, the study analyzed online job postings for modular, prefabricated, and off-site construction design roles. Data were collected from eight countries and 15 job platforms, resulting in 21,935 raw records. After text cleaning, duplicate removal, blacklist filtering, length filtering, and Hybrid Whitelist screening, 3,769 English postings were retained for BERTopic analysis. The model produced 37 topics and met the predefined validation criteria for topic coherence, diversity, topic count, and outlier ratio. Through pre-Ward noise removal, Ward hierarchical clustering, post-Ward refinement, merging, and semantic splitting, the study identified 17 competency domains, 43 competency categories, and 98 observable performance statements. A Korean job posting cross-validation further showed that 89.1% of 1,283 domestic postings could be mapped to the proposed domains, indicating broad contextual applicability while revealing Korea’s stronger emphasis on manufacturing and production competencies. Finally, the study proposes an exploratory five-tier priority structure and a five-level maturity model design that can support recruitment, training, self-assessment, and organizational competency development for modular construction designers, while acknowledging that expert-weighted validation remains a subsequent step.

Keywords
modular construction
designer competency
BERTopic
job posting analysis
digital transformation
competency maturity model
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Information
  • Publisher :Sustainable Building Research Center (ERC) Innovative Durable Building and Infrastructure Research Center
  • Publisher(Ko) :건설구조물 내구성혁신 연구센터
  • Journal Title :International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development
  • Volume : 17
  • No :2
  • Pages :366-387
  • Received Date : 2026-06-04
  • Accepted Date : 2026-06-15
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.22712/susb.20260021
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