Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is an industrial branch in which innovations are introduced relatively slowly, whether they are new products and/or new or significantly improved production processes. Two principal phases of the process of diffusion of innovations within an AEC organisation were defined in the earlier conceptual model of diffusion of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) as an innovation: the initial phase which precedes the decision making on adoption of the innovation and the next phase – implementation. In this Paper it is attempted to recognise the influential factors of an organisation’s environment on the initial phase of the diffusion of innovations within the organisation. A quality research was carried out on two expert groups: on the expert team for BIM, and on the expert team for asphalt technology. The latter team investigated innovative application of the Indirect Tensile Test (ITT) method for asphalt, according to the harmonised standard HRN EN, with the purpose of improving designing, i.e. dimensioning of asphalt courses in pavement structure. Each expert team recognised environmental influential factors and grouped them in three principal groups: factors of the general or social environment of the organization, factors of the business environment, and internal factors within the organisation. The Paper presents the analysis of the obtained research results for each group, as well as their comparative analysis. Influential environmental factors were defined, which impact the adoption of innovations in AEC organisations in the Republic of Croatia. This measurement instrument may be used to continue a research in order to rank and recognize those influential factors that should be acted upon primarily, with the goal of increasing the capacity of an AEC organisation for adoption of innovations.

diffusion of innovations; Building Information Modelling (BIM); Indirect Tensile Test (ITT); environmental factors