Navarro-Astor, E (2010) Job perception of Spanish qualified construction professionals. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
The importance of job satisfaction and motivation to the wellbeing of the construction industry has been highlighted. In fact, attention has been paid to job satisfaction and motivation of construction managers and white collar professionals while empirical research has been carried out in different countries (USA, UK, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada and Iran), but so far this subject has not been studied in Spain. Most of the published studies are quantitative in nature, use survey questionnaires to collect information and analyse it with standardized tools. In light of the growing understanding of sociological and behavioural issues some authors suggest a more balanced methodological approach. Thus, qualitative methods are becoming increasingly acceptable and attractive to researchers. The purpose of this study is to find out how these Spanish professionals live, feel and perceive their work activity, to analyse whether they are satisfied with their daily work routine and to describe those aspects that generate greater satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Data were obtained via semi-structured, in-depth interviews to forty construction technicians, architects and building engineers of different age, sex and professional experience. This allows perceiving details and nuances expressed through the language and feelings of the participants. The results reveal that the professionals interviewed enjoy their job, are satisfied with it and also describe their overall work experience in positive terms. The most important satisfaction factors are those related to the nature and content of the job whereas dissatisfaction has an extrinsic nature related to job context. The findings provide valuable suggestions that could help to maintain and improve these professionals' wellbeing at work.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction professional; job dissatisfaction; job satisfaction; Spain |
| Index terms: | job satisfaction, survey, qualitative method, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, motivation, engineer, Spain, becoming, satisfaction, routine, interview, construction industry, South Africa, architect, construction manager, questionnaire, Thailand, construction professional, well-being |
| Subjects: | psychology, project delivery, data collection methods, profession, research design and methodology, mental health and wellbeing, sociology, philosophical process, industry analysis, management, Geography, professional development |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Organizational Design, Information Management, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Roles and Professions |
| 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