Abstract
The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, its aim is to ascertain the major aspects of job satisfaction for South Australian construction workers including the main ramifications of job satisfaction in the working environment. Secondly, it investigates the influence of key age-related factors i.e. chronological age, organisational age and length of service on major aspects of job satisfaction. The collected data for this study comprised 72 questionnaires completed by construction practitioners working at operational levels in the South Australian construction industry. Based on the responses from the target group, this study deduced that job dissatisfaction was predominantly related to the adverse impact on personal health and quality of life. In addition, indifference and the perception of dejection in the workplace are the main consequences of low levels of job satisfaction. Inferential analyses revealed that none of the age-related factors could significantly affect the major aspects of job satisfaction of construction workers in the South Australian context. The study concludes with providing practical suggestions for redesigning human resources practices for increasing the level of job satisfaction within the South Australian construction industry.Keywords: Job satisfaction, workers, age, construction industry, South Australia
Highlights
Workers are the primary resource in construction projects, as the level of performance on construction sites is largely determined by workers’ performance (Ghoddousi et al 2014)
The chronological age, organisational age and length of service were regarded as independent variables, while items reflective of job satisfaction scores and job satisfaction effects were the dependent variables
Evidence demonstrates that serious organisational commitments and long hours of working could be a major contributor to low job satisfaction levels for South Australian construction workers
Summary
Workers are the primary resource in construction projects, as the level of performance on construction sites is largely determined by workers’ performance (Ghoddousi et al 2014) Against this backdrop, job satisfaction levels impact on a wide range of workers’ attitudes towards their jobs (Marzuki, Permadi and Sunaryo 2012), which according to Costen (2012) could directly influence the profitability of organisations. 309) “Australia is near the bottom of the international league table on job satisfaction levels” This low ranking is worsened by the shortage of construction workers (Lingard and Francis 2004) exacerbated by high rates of staff turnovers within the Australian construction industry (Davies and Hassett 2006)
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