Abstract
Construction technicians (CTs), skilled construction workers (SWs), and general construction workers (GWs) are the frontline workers in the construction industry, and they are directly responsible for the success of construction projects in terms of quality, cost, time, and safety. Due to demanding work characteristics and hostile work environments, frontline workers are exposed to very stressful situations. According to relevant theories found in literature, stress is a critical factor influencing individuals’ emotional and physical health, their productivity, turnover, proneness to accidents, and so on. Stress is manageable as long as its source (i.e., stressors) can be realistically identified and proper coping behaviors can be applied to cope with these stressors. However, it is unfortunate to find that rare study has been conducted to scientifically and comprehensively explore and investigate the complicated relationship between stress and performance for frontline workers. The current study, therefore, sets out to fill in this research gap through objective and scientific research methodology.In accordance with research triangulation, the current study includes both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and in each type of method, multiple data sources and/or analytical techniques are applied. At the beginning, an extensive literature review of relevant knowledge was conducted that covered a wide range of areas, including stress management, frontline workers’ work characteristics, etc., and a conceptual Stressors–Stress–Coping Behaviors–Performance model was proposed for frontline workers, along with a series of hypothesized relationships among them. To test the conceptual model and hypotheses, Multiple empirical studies were conducted, including focus group study (i.e., qualitative method), questionnaire survey (i.e., quantitative method), and multiple case studies (i.e., qualitative method). A purposive sampling technique was applied throughout the three empirical studies to select appropriate participants in accordance to certain criteria.
The focus group study explored the realistic stress and performance indicators for frontline workers, and was conducted in the form of a group discussion. A total of 23 frontline workers participated in the focus group study, including 7 SWs, 6 GWs, and 10 CTs. The 23 frontline workers explored a total of 28 stressors, including 6 personal, 5 interpersonal, 5 task, 7 organizational, and 5 physical stressors; 16 stress symptoms, including both 5 emotional and 11 physical stress symptoms; 5 problem-based, 12 emotion-based coping behaviors and 2 mindfulness characteristics; and 4 types of performance, including task, interpersonal, organizational, and safety performance. The results of the focus group study were used to fine-tune the conceptual model to establish the preliminary model, which was a better fit for the realistic situation of frontline workers.
Following the focus group study, a large-scale questionnaire survey was administered among the frontline workers through email, mail, and organizational means. A total of 402 validated questionnaires were obtained, including ninety-three (23.1%) GWs, 198 (49.3%) SWs, and 111 (27.6%) CTs. A series of statistical techniques were used to analyze the collected quantitative data, including factor analysis, reliability test, Pearson correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. Only the results confirmed by the series of statistical analyses were used to develop the statistical model. The results of the questionnaire survey study confirmed the majority of the research hypotheses, including: 1) the effect of interpersonal, task, organizational and physical stressors on frontline workers’ stress; 2) the effect of objective, emotional, and physical stress symptoms on frontline workers’ performance and the curvilinear relationship between stress and performance; and 3) the effect of coping behaviors on frontline workers’ stress.
Three case studies were conducted to cross-check and verify the final model. Frontline workers from three types of projects, including addition and alteration (AA) construction projects, building construction (BC) projects, and civil construction (CC) projects were invited to conduct semi-structured one-on-one interviews to share their opinions and experience of relevant subjects. A total of 41 frontline workers participated in the case studies, including 13 in AA projects, 14 in BC projects, and 14 in CC projects. The causal relationships among stressors, stress, coping behaviors, and performance were analyzed in detail.
Based on the congruence of the results of the quantitative research method and qualitative research method, the final Stressors–Stress–Coping Behaviors–Performance model for frontline workers was developed. The model is able to confirm that: 1) objective stress can be increased by poor physical environment; 2) acute emotional stress is exacerbated by a demanding workload and unsafe conditions, while positively predicting safety incompliance; 3) chronic emotional stress can be affected by a demanding workload, unsafe conditions and job control, and it increases the turnover intention and safety incompliance; 4) acute physical stress results because of demanding workload, unsafe conditions and lack of job control, and it increases turnover intention and safety participation; 5) chronic physical stress is increased by demanding workload, unsafe conditions and lack of job control, while it is enhancing the turnover intention and safety incompliance; 6) objective stress has a curvilinear relationship with task performance; 7) emotional and physical stress have a curvilinear relationship with safety incompliance; 8) only instrumental support, as a problem-based coping behavior, can positively affect frontline workers’ objective stress; and 9) emotional support exacerbates frontline workers’ acute emotional stress, chronic emotional stress, and chronic physical stress, while emotional discharge, escapism, and self-controlling deteriorate frontline workers’ acute and chronic emotional stress and physical stress.
In accordance with the research results, practical recommendations were made in order to improve the frontline workers’ stress and enhance their performance, including the selection of appropriate construction methods in accordance with the site environment and availability of resources; proactive management for overseeing frontline workers’ health and safety; the usage of equipment rather than humans in unsafe conditions; the delegation of authority to frontline workers; organization of stress management programs and seminars; and so on. Remedial actions were taken to address the potential bias in the final results, such as big sample size, sophisticated statistical analysis with a high requirement for the power of the statistical test and generalizability, and so on. Promising future research directions have also been proposed for fellow researchers.
The study was able to explore the realistic stress and performance indicators for frontline workers for the first time, applying sophisticated and logical statistical techniques to analyze the data, and yielding a huge amount of data in order to understand and validate the final model. Hence, it is with confidence that the research results have a certain level of generalizability, which can be used to manage the stress of frontline workers and thus enhance their performance.
| Date of Award | 15 Nov 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Mei-yung LEUNG (Supervisor) |