Development of the construction training attitudes and intentions scale

The events of the Great Recession (2007–2009) have resulted in high unemployment and underemployment rates in the United States and abroad. The plight of domestic young adults, particularly young men with few work-related skills, is evident. Failing to receive a first job has long-term negative consequences for these individuals and their families. In the United States, job opportunities exist for properly trained individuals in the construction industry, which is currently experiencing a shortage of skilled labor. Recognition of the unemployment situation and job opportunity in new construction, renovation, and maintenance of existing infrastructure has led to the creation of publicly funded construction skills training programs that target young adults (16–24 years). However, despite the great deal of effort and funding, participant retention is a significant problem and dropout rates ranging between 45–65% have been reported. Training practitioners posit that no model exists for predicting performance and attrition of individuals in training and express the desire for a metric that measures individual characteristics to better inform individual training successes. A review of literature revealed no instrument for predicting performance, completion, or attrition of the unemployed in training. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to develop an internally consistent and valid instrument that measures the appropriate constructs to inform and predict human behavior within the domain of construction training for the unemployed. The resulting instrument, the Construction Training Attitudes and Intentions Scale (CTAIS), was developed through two phases. The CTAIS was complete by construction management undergraduate students (N = 247) during phase one. The purpose of phase one was to reduce the number of CTAIS items (N = 98) using inter-item correlations and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). An evaluation of the internal consistency and validity was conducted on the reduced pool of CTAIS items. Phase one resulted in a 44-items CTAIS, which contain four emergent factors: planned training behavior (PTB), construction training self-efficacy (CTSE), training motivation attitudes (TMA), and training locus of control (TLOC). The CTAIS and its factors PTB, CTSE, TMA, and TLOC were found to be internally consistent (α = 0. 926, 0. 943, 0. 942, 0. 941, and 0. 829, respectively). Face and convergent construct validity were shown through significant (p < 0. 01) correlations between the emergent factors that mirrored those found in previous construct validation research. The 44-item CTAIS was administered during phase two to a separate group of undergraduate construction management students (N = 174). The internal consistency of the 44-item CTAIS (α = 0. 902) and PTB, CTSE, TMA, and TLOC factors (α = 0. 909, 0. 950, 0. 925, and 0. 832, respectively) were confirmed in phase two. Significant (p < 0. 01) correlations between the emergent factors mirrored those found in phase one and previous construct validation research, providing further support for the face and convergent construct validity of the CTAIS. Supplemental analysis was performed using the phase-two data to investigate difference in mean PTB, CTSE, TMA and TLOC by the demographic characteristics of the sample. The results revealed significant differences in mean PTB, CTSE, and TMA (p < 0. 001, p = 0. 008, and 0. 032, respectively) by gender and in mean PTB and CTSE (p = 0. 027 and 0. 019, respectively) by hands-on construction experience (dichotomous, experiences/no experience). ANOVA yielded significant differences in mean PTB and CTSE by age (p < 0. 001 and p = 0. 01, respectively) and mean PTB by level of hands-on experience ( p = 0. 03). However, it was noted in the post-hoc analysis that these differences were considered statistical artifacts due to the small and unbalanced sample sizes and overlapping confidence intervals around the means. No significant differences (p > 0. 05) were found between young adults (24 years and younger) and adults (25 years a d older) or by respondent year in school, amount of construction management experience, participation in construction management competitions or internships. No significant differences ( p > 0. 05) in TLOC were found in the supplemental analysis. The CTAIS developed and validated through this study allows training organizations to quantitatively measure and evaluate construction domain level characteristics that have been shown in research to predict performance in work setting and attendance in educational settings. Identification of participant characteristics, which contribute to attrition and performance in construction training, can assist training organizations in programmatic decision-making. Pre-training assessment of trainees allows practitioners to make informed decisions, at the individual level, about appropriate interventions to increase the likelihood of training success. The CTAIS, when administered at pre- and post-training intervals, provides trainers with a measure of individual characteristics that indicate training successes. High self-efficacy and motivation are predictive of persistence in job search activities and on-the-job performance. Therefore, higher post-training CTSE and TMA are indicators of training program effectiveness. (Abstract shortened by UMI. )