Lingard, H.; Turner, M. and Pirzadeh, P. (2025) Is construction my industry of choice? Examining the factors affecting career choice decision-making of young workers. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 33(4), pp. 3264-3283. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose – Work factors affecting the career intentions of young construction workers in structured traineeship programs are not well understood despite the increasing use of such programs as pathways to career entry. To address this gap, work factors affecting the career intentions of participants in a construction-related traineeship program were investigated. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire comprising measures of organisational fairness, organisation inclusion, time for life, job characteristics, and intention to pursue a career in construction was administered to 136 Australian trainees. Bivariate and logistic regression analysis explored the relationships and combined effects of work factors on career intention. Findings – Trainees' perceptions of the needs-supplies component of person-job (P-J) fit were a strong and significant predictor of their intention to pursue a career in construction on completion of the traineeship program. Specifically, the greater the extent to which trainees perceived a job in construction would satisfy their needs, desires or preferences, the more likely they were to indicate they would pursue a career in construction. Practical implications – Findings provide new insights that can help to improve the industry's ability to attract and retain school leavers in employment which is especially critical in light of the skills shortage facing the Australian construction sector. Originality/value – The instrument used to measure subjective needs-supplies (P-J) fit enabled a fine-grained analysis of job characteristics considered important by trainees and their perceived availability in construction. Job characteristics relating to having work-life balance and health and wellbeing were of high importance but were perceived to be low in availability in construction jobs.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction industry; job characteristics; person-environment fit; vocational training programs; work factors; young workers |
| Index terms: | employment, decision-making, construction worker, methodology, career, construction sector, questionnaire, preference, logistic regression analysis, vocational training, health and wellbeing, construction industry, fairness, program, work-life balance |
| Subjects: | software systems, decision-making and reasoning, decision analysis, data collection methods, industry analysis, leadership, management, research methods, statistical analysis, professional development, practitioner, mental health and wellbeing |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Education, Health and Safety, Organizational Design, Risk Management, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Research Practice |
| 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