Motivational factors in Australian construction industry workforce

摘要

With the decline in Australian construction worker productivity over the past twenty years, it could be suggested that construction workers are not motivated to perform their work in the same manner as workers of the previous generation. The predominant aim of this paper is to discover variables of motivation that are most important to construction workers in Australia's construction industry. Many motivation theories have been postulated to explain the complex relationship between variations in human personality and motivation, with resultant conflicting interpretations of worker motivation and the effects of different motives. This paper presents results obtained after interviewing workers from a cross section of the industry and performing a statistical analysis of the results. Results of this study of motivation of construction workers in Australia are compared with results of a similar study conducted with construction workers in the UK and Nigeria. The study demonstrates that motivating variables are very interdependent, with a high correlation between motivating and de-motivating factors. The results show that construction workers motivation involves a complex interplay of different variables. The results show that the most important motivational variable is a person's safety needs, including job security and provision of safety at work.