Occupational stress affects the health and wellbeing of people who work, and the construction industry is recognized as a high-stress working environment. The relationship between job demands, job ...control, workplace support, and experiences of stress in the South African construction context is investigated, using hierarchical regression, factor analysis and structural equation modeling to explore the strength of thirteen factor relationships with perceived stress. Data were gathered from an on-line questionnaire survey response sample of 676 architects, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, and project and construction managers. Predictors displaying a significant relationship with occupational stress are the presence of work–life imbalance, the need to ‘prove’ oneself, hours worked per week, working to tight deadlines, and support from line managers in difficult situations at work. Existing theories of occupational stress are confirmed but not completely supported. The construction industry should give attention to how the need to work long hours is justified. Organizations should look to improving managerial and collegial support for construction professionals, but be careful in engaging in socializing and project team-building activities. Further research will need to focus more deeply on construction-specific job demand factors; explore why women professionals appear to experience more stress than men; and aim to develop reliable early-warning detection techniques for construction professionals.
•Investigates occupation stress and job demand, control and support factors.•Uses hierarchical regression, factor analysis and structural equation modelling.•Identifies job demand factors as the most critical job stressors.•Calls for research into gender differences and management intervention techniques.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate and examine whether there is any significant relationship between the extent of business diversification and the performance of construction ...firms in South Africa. The rationale for the examination stems from the view that the relationship between diversification and the performance of construction firms raises important issues in strategic management and cross-border business. In contractors' growth however, there is a dearth of empirical research and theoretical arguments regarding the effects of business diversification on construction company performance in South Africa.Design methodology approach - The study employed the use of a case study and archival approaches using semi-structured interviews to elicit primary qualitative and quantitative data over a period of five years for large construction companies listed in Grade 7-9 on the Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) contractor register. The scope of services and geographic diversification are computed from the sourced data. Dependent variables are the measure of performance using Return on Total Asset (ROTA), Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and Profit Margin (PM); independent variables used are service Product Diversification (PD) and Geographic Diversification (GD); while control variables used are size, age, technical capability and capital structure of the construction firms.Findings - It emerged that established construction companies on the cidb contractor registers perform and diversify more in their service product better than the newly upgraded contractors and this was evident in their performance with respect to profit margin. The results also indicated that there are no statistically significant differences in the performance of diversified and undiversified firms, although diversification was found to have a positive impact on the corporate performance of construction companies.Originality value - The outcomes of the research are useful to decision makers and managers of construction companies, as they will help in making viable corporate strategic diversification decisions. The study also engenders a better understanding of the effect of both product and geographic diversification on the performance of contractors.
Contemporary communication technology blurs the boundaries between work-life and family-life environments, through after-hours, work-related contact. We examined the relationship between work ...contact, work-family conflict and consequent outcomes of psychological distress and sleep problems experienced by South African construction professionals. An integrated model of these factors was proposed and tested using path analysis and responses from 630 survey respondents. Work experience, gender, domestic situation and employment status explain the relationship between job autonomy and control, job pressures, and work contact, which were hypothesized to multivariately explain their negative effects. The final integrated model was a good fit to the data. The results indicate that the antecedents of work-family conflict are job autonomy and control, job pressure and work contact. Psychological distress is determined by work-family conflict, work experience, and job pressure. Sleep problems are influenced by work-family conflict, work contact and psychological distress. An important insight gained is the pivotal role played by job pressure, directly and indirectly, in work stress outcomes. Interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress and sleep problems among construction professionals should target the boundary permeability of work contact and work-family conflict, particularly for less experienced, female and junior professionals with low job control but high job pressure.
Research into workplace stress in the construction industry has been dominated by studies undertaken in Hong Kong, England and Australia, with relatively little attention having been paid to African ...countries. A purposively selected sample of thirty-six construction professionals (comprising architects, project managers, construction managers, engineers and quantity surveyors) based in Cape Town, South Africa, were surveyed regarding their perceptions about, and experiences of, workplace stress. The purpose was to identify and rank job demand, job control and job support factors and to analyse these by gender and professional grouping, both in terms of how respondents perceived them, as well as in terms of how frequently they had experienced them. The main finding was that respondents' perceptions about the importance of job demand, job control and job support factors were largely consistent with their own experience of these factors. Distinguishing between perceptions and experience of stressors and moderators of stress was, however, considered valuable because the fact that differences were found indicates the need for precision in the design of scales. The highest ranked factors were, respectively, 'critical time constraints', 'volume of work' and 'adequate compensation (salary)'. Women and men ranked items differently, as did the various professional groups. The main conclusions were that the construction project environment is a time-pressured, complex, environment in which work-life balance is negatively affected, particularly for women. Control over the type, flow and volume of work were perceived to be the main moderators of stress, whilst salary and career path opportunities were perceived to be the main job support moderators of stress. The applicability of using the job demand-control-support framework was confirmed given that the main stressors, control and support moderators were found to be to be largely consistent with the findings of previous studies. Future research taking a gendered approach should anticipate issues important to female respondents and should consider the benefits of qualitative methods. The design of research focusing on construction professionals should consider using the project team as the unit of analysis to ensure that the influence of the interconnectedness of participants' roles is taken into account.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the resilient operational variables that impact the corporate performance of construction companies in the South African construction industry and to ...explore whether financial capacity can be used as a predictor of construction company performance in the context of the South African construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – The operational variables of construction companies that impact their corporate performance were identified through an in-depth review of the extant literature. A combination of convenience and snowball sampling techniques were used in identifying 185 building and civil engineering construction companies based in four provinces of South Africa and registered in Grades 2-6 of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) contractor grading register. The data used in the study were collected from this cohort of respondents through the use of structured questionnaires. At the end of the study period, 62 valid responses representing a response rate of 33.5 per cent were received. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings – The findings of this study indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between the financial capital and net assets of construction companies and their corporate performance in terms of turnover. The data collected did not support any significant relationship between other operating financial variables, such as Return on Capital Employed and profitability and financial performance. Research limitations/implications – A predictive model for predicting the financial performance of firms was developed from the data collected. The implication of this is that the more financial capital possessed by a construction company, the more the company’s financial performance in terms of turnover. The CIDB can use financial capacity as a measure when grading contractors, as a good number of contractors are not performing. The predictive model developed could be adopted by the CIDB as an instrument for predicting the corporate financial performance of construction companies that seek to be listed on their contractor grading register. Originality/value – This research will be of significance to researchers and members of the research community in providing new knowledge as well as to contractors in enabling them to understand the importance of having financial capital. It is also of importance to the CIDB in their quest for contractor and construction industry development. Further research to validate the results obtained in this study using a larger sample size across more provinces of South Africa will form the basis of future studies.
AbstractMany construction professionals experience high levels of stress. Workplace stress leads to psychological, physiological, and sociological strain effects. Sufferers adopt different coping ...mechanisms in attempts to mitigate their condition. Using an online survey, opinions were sought from architects, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, and project and construction managers in South Africa. The contribution of the research reported in this paper lies in its examination of the work stress experienced by construction professionals in a developing country characterized by economic hardship and social problems, such as inequality and crime. Most respondents experience high levels of stress at work. Architects (more than engineers, quantity surveyors, and project and construction managers) and female (more than male) professionals feel stressed. Psychological effects of workplace stress include the feeling of not being appreciated by others for a job well-done, feeling dissatisfied with one’s own performance at work, and feeling tense at work. Physiological effects include disturbances to usual sleep patterns, difficulty in relaxing after hours, and difficulty in concentrating. Sociological effects include a strain on family life, social activities, and social relationships. A wide range of positive coping mechanisms (or countermeasures) is reported, including physical exercise in addition to intellectual and cultural activities. From a negative-coping perspective, consumption of alcohol is widespread, with more than one-third of respondents consuming 3–9 units/week. One in six respondents report smoking of up to 40 cigarettes/day, whereas use of narcotics (such as marijuana, cocaine, mandrax, ecstasy, heroin, and methamphetamine) at least once in the previous 12 months is reported by 1 in 20. A duty-of-care ethos suggests that appropriate and carefully targeted stress-management strategies should be implemented by organizations within the construction industry. Further research is recommended to explore the effectiveness of organizational and personal stress-management interventions.
Corruption is a pervasive stain on the construction industry in many countries. South Africa is no exception. A questionnaire survey showed that corruption there is perceived to be widespread. Beyond ...the quantitative survey findings, thematic analysis was used to explore the verbatim comments offered by many survey participants. This analysis clarified the nature and extent of corruption more precisely and four predominant themes emerged: involvement in corruption, forms of corruption, factors that may give rise to corrupt activities, and the means of combating corruption. Public officials are thought to be actively involved in acts of corruption, particularly in the soliciting of bribes and in tender manipulation. Professional consultants and other actors in the construction supply chain are not above reproach. Forms of corruption centre largely on appointment and tender irregularities, and to a lesser extent on contract administration and closeout irregularities. Factors instrumental in corruption include the skills shortage within the industry, a perceived absence of deterrents and sanctions, and poor ethical standards. Procedural impediments, fear of victimization and personal attitudes all act as barriers to combating corruption. While confirming opportunity, pressure and self-justification as the three pillars of the Cressey 'Fraud Triangle' theory of corruption, the research findings suggest that a more dynamic interpretation of this model is advisable. In addressing corruption, at least in the public sector, improvements in procurement processes are needed along with shifts towards higher standards of ethical behaviour among public sector employees at all levels. Greater procurement process transparency (in both public and private sectors of the industry) would address the worst effects of undue political interference and nepotism. The South African construction industry (particularly its statutory professional councils and contractor affiliation bodies), together with public sector agencies and private sector client associations, should collaborate to adopt a more proactive stance against corruption, and be more engaged with detecting and reporting it.
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