Organisational commitment of construction skilled workers in selected construction firms in Nigeria

Aghimien, D O; Awodele, O A and Maipompo, C S (2019) Organisational commitment of construction skilled workers in selected construction firms in Nigeria. Journal of Construction Business and Management, 3(1), pp. 8-17. ISSN 2521-0165

Abstract

Skilled construction workers are crucial to the successful delivery of construction projects. However, there have been reports of their shortage within the Nigerian construction industry. Ensuring commitment of the few available ones to their organisation is important as this is bound to influence the service delivery of these organisations. This paper presents the result of the assessment of the organisational commitment of skilled construction workers in Abuja, Nigeria. A quantitative survey design was adopted, and data were gathered from selected skilled construction workers in 31 construction companies registered with Nigeria's Federation of Construction Industry. Organisational Commitment Scale was adopted in assessing the commitment of these set of workers, and data were harnessed through the use of a questionnaire. Percentage, mean item score and Kruskal-Wallis H-Test were used in analysing the data gathered. Cronbach Alpha test was also conducted to test the reliability of the research instrument. The study revealed that the common type of commitment exhibited by skilled construction workers is the continuance commitment. Factors such as getting feedback from supervisors, payment received being equal to work done, and the availability of opportunities to grow, play a major role in the commitment type being exhibited. The practical implication of this result is that construction companies within the country need to improve in the aspect of human resource management to attain better commitment and at the same time improve their productivity. It is believed that the findings of this study will assist construction organisations in adopting the right method that will help enhance the organisational commitment of their skilled workers.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nigeria; operatives; organisational commitment; questionnaire survey; skilled worker; worker satisfaction.
Index terms: operative, supervisor, construction worker, construction industry, skilled worker, Nigeria, productivity, organizational commitment, service delivery, construction organization, Abuja, questionnaire, construction project, worker satisfaction, construction company, survey, construction firm, commitment, human resource management
Subjects: psychology, organization, data collection methods, practitioner, sociology, industry analysis, management, production management, service delivery, Geography
Topics: Organizational Design, Human Resources, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice
Descriptive scope: 5 PCTEA

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