Elbashbishy, T and El-Adaway, I H (2023) System dynamic modeling to study the impact of construction industry characteristics and associated macroeconomic indicators on workforce size and labor retention rate. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 149(10): 04023100, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Limited skilled labor has been one of the greatest challenges facing the construction industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exaggerated the already strained construction labor market, leading to an additional negative impact. One of the major contributors to skilled labor shortages in construction is the issue of labor retention. Overall, this is a complex and dynamic situation that requires effective and efficient simulation-based techniques to capture the interdependent relationships that affect the performance of the construction labor market. This paper fills this knowledge gap. To this end, the authors used a multistep research methodology that involved (1) identifying factors that affect skilled labor shortages; (2) developing a one-module system dynamics model that consists of three interconnected systems (namely, construction labor market system, industry characteristics system, and economic conditions system); (3) initializing and calibrating the model to simulate the construction labor market; (4) validating the model through structural, behavioral, and calibration tests; and (5) conducting sensitivity analysis to simulate different parameters and examine their impact on skilled labor shortage. Among other findings, results indicated that all scenarios were successful in improving the conditions of the skilled labor market by increasing the workforce size and labor retention rate. Further, the model demonstrated that economic indicators have a more impactful influence on labor retention patterns compared with industry characteristics. The developed model offers industry practitioners, policymakers, business analysts, and other associated stakeholders a useful tool to test various scenarios including national-level economic policies and labor retention regulations that affect the construction skilled labor market. Consequently, this allows users to analyze the impact of variables such as fiscal policies, economic support plans, and construction spending strategies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | construction industry, construction labour, research methodology, module, economic indicator, dynamic modelling, economic policy, strategy, construction spending, practitioner, regulation, COVID-19, retention, system dynamics, pandemic, sensitivity analysis, economic condition, shortages, fiscal policy, skilled labour |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, architectural elements, economic analysis, computing systems, environmental hazards, data analysis and analytics, research design and methodology, health risk and incident analysis, modelling and simulation, public policy, business policy, political science, practitioner, management |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Human Resources, Research Practice, Site Management, Sustainability, Roles and Professions, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Design Practice, Governance, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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