IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i2p2864-2887.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Embracing digital transformation for sustainable development: Barriers to adopting digital twin in asset management within Singapore's energy and chemicals industry

Author

Listed:
  • Hanzhang Zhan
  • Bon‐Gang Hwang
  • Pramesh Krishnankutty

Abstract

In the era of Industry 4.0, digital twin has the potential to revolutionize asset management and contribute to the sustainable development of the energy and chemicals industry. This study aims to investigate barriers to adopting digital twin in asset management within Singapore's energy and chemicals industry through a literature review and interviews. It identified five categories of barriers: resource constraints, data management issues, technical challenges, lack of government and industry support, and strategic and cultural barriers. The five categories of barriers presented unique implications, mutually reinforcing their negative impact on digital twin adoption. The analysis of interviews revealed that the most prevalent barriers, as mentioned by the interviewees, were lack of successful use cases (78.6%), high investment (71.4%), and lack of effective data analysis techniques (64.3%). Lack of successful use cases hinders return‐on‐investment justification, high investment requirements compete with other operational priorities, and data analysis challenges impede the realization of digital twin's full potential. The findings provide organizations with a comprehensive understanding of early stage barriers to formulate targeted strategies, driving the industry towards increased competitiveness and sustainable growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanzhang Zhan & Bon‐Gang Hwang & Pramesh Krishnankutty, 2025. "Embracing digital transformation for sustainable development: Barriers to adopting digital twin in asset management within Singapore's energy and chemicals industry," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2864-2887, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:2:p:2864-2887
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3270
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3270?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Khan, Ali Nawaz & Jabeen, Fauzia & Mehmood, Khalid & Ali Soomro, Mohsin & Bresciani, Stefano, 2023. "Paving the way for technological innovation through adoption of artificial intelligence in conservative industries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Thorbecke, Willem, 2019. "How oil prices affect East and Southeast Asian economies: Evidence from financial markets and implications for energy security," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 628-638.
    3. Wang, Jue, 2018. "Innovation and government intervention: A comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 399-412.
    4. Andrew Burton-Jones & Detmar W. Straub, 2006. "Reconceptualizing System Usage: An Approach and Empirical Test," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 228-246, September.
    5. Hon Chung Lau & Seeram Ramakrishna & Kai Zhang & Mohamed Ziaudeen Shahul Hameed, 2021. "A Decarbonization Roadmap for Singapore and Its Energy Policy Implications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    6. Todd H. Chiles & Alan D. Meyer & Thomas J. Hench, 2004. "Organizational Emergence: The Origin and Transformation of Branson, Missouri's Musical Theaters," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 499-519, October.
    7. Justy, Théo & Pellegrin-Boucher, Estelle & Lescop, Denis & Granata, Julien & Gupta, Shivam, 2023. "On the edge of Big Data: Drivers and barriers to data analytics adoption in SMEs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Dawid Booyse & Caren Brenda Scheepers, 2023. "Barriers to adopting automated organisational decision-making through the use of artificial intelligence," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(1), pages 64-85, June.
    9. Min, Qingfei & Lu, Yangguang & Liu, Zhiyong & Su, Chao & Wang, Bo, 2019. "Machine Learning based Digital Twin Framework for Production Optimization in Petrochemical Industry," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 502-519.
    10. Greg Guest & Emily Namey & Mario Chen, 2020. "A simple method to assess and report thematic saturation in qualitative research," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Hennink, Monique & Kaiser, Bonnie N., 2022. "Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    12. Roberts, Ruby & Flin, Rhona & Millar, David & Corradi, Luca, 2021. "Psychological factors influencing technology adoption: A case study from the oil and gas industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Liu, Min & Qin, Jianjun & Lu, Da-Gang & Zhang, Wei-Heng & Zhu, Jiang-Sheng & Faber, Michael Havbro, 2022. "Towards resilience of offshore wind farms: A framework and application to asset integrity management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    14. repec:plo:pone00:0021101 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jinjiang Wang & Lunkuan Ye & Robert X. Gao & Chen Li & Laibin Zhang, 2019. "Digital Twin for rotating machinery fault diagnosis in smart manufacturing," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(12), pages 3920-3934, June.
    16. Upadhyay, Nitin, 2020. "Demystifying blockchain: A critical analysis of challenges, applications and opportunities," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    17. Ekaterina Samylovskaya & Alexey Makhovikov & Alexander Lutonin & Dmitry Medvedev & Regina-Elizaveta Kudryavtseva, 2022. "Digital Technologies in Arctic Oil and Gas Resources Extraction: Global Trends and Russian Experience," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-30, March.
    18. Ediriweera, Amali & Wiewiora, Anna, 2021. "Barriers and enablers of technology adoption in the mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Martens, Cristina Dai Prá & Silva, Luciano Ferreira da & Silva, Deivison Feitosa & Martens, Mauro Luiz, 2022. "Challenges in the implementation of internet of things projects and actions to overcome them," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    20. Vu, Khuong M., 2018. "Embracing globalization to promote industrialization: Insights from the development of Singapore's petrochemicals industry," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 170-185.
    21. Jason H J Wang & Henry Wai-Chung Yeung, 2000. "Strategies for Global Competition: Transnational Chemical Firms and Singapore's Chemical Cluster," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(5), pages 847-869, May.
    22. Yao, Lixia & Shi, Xunpeng & Andrews-Speed, Philip, 2018. "Conceptualization of energy security in resource-poor economies: The role of the nature of economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 394-402.
    23. Xiaochen Zheng & Jinzhi Lu & Dimitris Kiritsis, 2022. "The emergence of cognitive digital twin: vision, challenges and opportunities," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(24), pages 7610-7632, December.
    24. Komulainen, Ruey & Nätti, Satu, 2023. "Barriers to blockchain adoption: Empirical observations from securities services value network," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    25. Hing Yun & Lee Jin, 2009. "Evolution of the petrochemical industry in Singapore," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 116-122.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reem Mohamed Gouda & Yasser Tawfik Halim, 2025. "The role of sustainable social media content in enhancing customer loyalty in the hospitality industry," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Dario Krpan & Jonathan E. Booth & Andreea Damien, 2023. "The positive–negative–competence (PNC) model of psychological responses to representations of robots," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(11), pages 1933-1954, November.
    3. Liyanaarachchi, Gajendra & Mifsud, Matthieu & Viglia, Giampaolo, 2024. "Virtual influencers and data privacy: Introducing the multi-privacy paradox," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Nicole Brown, 2024. "Disclosure Dances in Doctoral Education," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Stefano De Paoli & Walter S. Mathis, 2025. "Reflections on inductive thematic saturation as a potential metric for measuring the validity of an inductive thematic analysis with LLMs," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 683-709, February.
    6. Syarah Syazwani Arifin & Izran Sarrazin Mohammad & Rohaya Abdul Jalil, 2024. "Characteristics of Effective Investment Evaluation Methods for Servicescape Intangible Value Quantification," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(11), pages 656-681, November.
    7. Gülüm Özer & İdil Işık & Jordi Escartín, 2024. "Is There Somebody Looking out for Me? A Qualitative Analysis of Bullying Experiences of Individuals Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Mbassi, Christophe Martial & Messono, Omang Ombolo, 2023. "Historical technology and current economic development: Reassessing the nature of the relationship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    9. Prasanna Tambe & Lorin M. Hitt, 2014. "Measuring Information Technology Spillovers," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 53-71, March.
    10. Hon Chung Lau, 2022. "Evaluation of Decarbonization Technologies for ASEAN Countries via an Integrated Assessment Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Pradeep Racherla & Munir Mandviwalla, 2013. "Moving from Access to Use of the Information Infrastructure: A Multilevel Sociotechnical Framework," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 709-730, September.
    12. Muhammad, Tufail & Ni, Guohua & Chen, Zhenling & Mallek, Sabrine & Dudek, Marek & Mentel, Grzegorz, 2024. "Addressing resource curse: How mineral resources influence industrial structure dynamics of the BRI 57 oil-exporting countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    13. Suriana Ramli & Norzanah Mat Nor & Mohammad Nazri & Sharizan Sharkawi, 2024. "COVID-19’S Impact on Malaysian SMEs: Supply Chain Risk Management Disruptions and Challenges for Business Recovery and Continuity," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(8), pages 153-163, August.
    14. Júlio Belo Fernandes & Diana Vareta & Sónia Fernandes & Ana Silva Almeida & Dina Peças & Noélia Ferreira & Liliana Roldão, 2022. "Rehabilitation Workforce Challenges to Implement Person-Centered Care," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-9, March.
    15. Chikako Ishizuka & Kei Aoki, 2024. "Drivers of sustained brand engagement: cases of long-term customers of hedonic and utilitarian brands in Japan," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(4), pages 979-989, December.
    16. Zhang, Kai & Lau, Hon Chung & Liu, Shuyang & Li, Hangyu, 2022. "Carbon capture and storage in the coastal region of China between Shanghai and Hainan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    17. Loretta Mastroeni & Alessandro Mazzoccoli & Greta Quaresima & Pierluigi Vellucci, 2021. "Wavelet analysis and energy-based measures for oil-food price relationship as a footprint of financialisation effect," Papers 2104.11891, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2022.
    18. Yu-Kai Lin & Mingfeng Lin & Hsinchun Chen, 2019. "Do Electronic Health Records Affect Quality of Care? Evidence from the HITECH Act," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 306-318, March.
    19. Liwen Wang & Jin Jason Lu & Kevin Zhou, 2023. "Technological Capability Strength/Asymmetry and Supply Chain Process Innovation: The Contingent Roles of Institutional Environments in China," Post-Print hal-03954124, HAL.
    20. Sindhwani, Rahul & Pereira, Vijay & Sampat, Brinda & Shankar, Amit & Nigam, Achint & Salwan, Prashant, 2025. "Exploring barriers to social robot adoption: A mixed-method study in the Indian retail sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:2:p:2864-2887. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.