Nauman, S; Zheng, C and Ahmad, R (2021) Employee career outlook and turnover: Unleashing the roles of career adaptability and career satisfaction in international construction projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(11): 04021150, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Retaining employees is a challenge in the construction industry. The purpose of this study is to understand how employees' career outlook affects their turnover intention in the construction industry as it can have a significant impact on long-term construction project management. Using the time-lagged two-wave data collected from construction industry employees in Lahore, Pakistan, during Covid-19, we tested the impact of negative career shocks caused by unexpected events and human factors on employees' intention to stay or leave through the underlying mechanism of career satisfaction. We also tested the moderating role of career adaptability to buffer the negative effects of career shocks on career satisfaction. The results revealed that career satisfaction mediates the relationship between career shocks and turnover intention. A slope analysis disclosed the moderating role of career adaptability, illustrating that an employee's career satisfaction would be enhanced with a higher level of adaptability toward career shocks. We discussed both theoretical and practical implications for construction employees' career outlook specifically and managing employee turnover for the construction industry broadly.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | career adaptability; career satisfaction; career shocks; construction project management; turnover intention |
| Index terms: | slope, turnover, COVID-19, human factor, international construction project, Pakistan, career, adaptability, construction employee, satisfaction, employee turnover, construction industry, construction project management, buffer |
| Subjects: | Geography, financial risk, project management theory and practice, professional development, health risk and incident analysis, management, industry analysis, occupational health and safety management, geotechnical engineering, practitioner, strategic management, user focus, business management, project delivery |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Human Resources, International Construction, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here