An analysis of the literature on construction employee turnover: drivers, consequences, and future direction

Figures & data

Figure 1. Distribution of origin country of studied samples per year.

Figure 2. Systematic review process.

Table 1. Journal sources of reviewed studies.

Journal	Number of papers	Journal	Number of papers
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management	12	Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja	1
Construction Management and Economics	11	Humanities and Social Sciences Reviews	1
Journal of Management in Engineering	8	Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology	1
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management	3	Australian Journal of Public Administration	1
International Journal of Construction Education and Research	2	Built Environment Project and Asset Management	1
Safety Science	2	International Journal of Engineering Business Management	1
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice	2	Journal of Marine Science and Technology-Taiwan	1
Sustainability	2	International Journal of Manpower	1
International Journal of Project Management	2	Journal of Safety Research	1
Social Behavior and Personality	1	The International Journal of Human Resource Management	1
Academy of Management Journal	1	Leadership & Organization Development Journal	1
Journal of Labor Research	1	International Journal of Manpower	1
European Journal of Training and Development	1	Sa Journal of Human Resource Management	1
Project Management Journal	1	Built Environment Project and Asset Management	1
Evidence-based HRM	1	SAGE Open	1
Facilities	1	Journal of Construction Engineering and Management	1
Frontiers of Engineering Management	1	Studies of Transition States and Societies	1
Journal of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering	1	Journal of Construction in Developing Countries	1
Gender, Work and Organization	1	Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building	1
Asia Pacific Management Review	1	Journal of Construction Research	1
human relations	1	International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development	1

Table 2. Research method used in the reviewed literature.

Research methods	Percentage of papers (%)
Quantitative	78
Qualitative	10
Mixed method	9
Simulation/mathematical modelling	3
Quantitative data collection methods	Percentage of papers (%)
Questionnaire survey	87
Secondary data	6.5
Case study	6.5
Research design of quantitative methods	Percentage of papers (%)
Cross-sectional	82
Longitudinal	10
Time lagged	8
Level of analysis in quantitative studies	Percentage of papers (%)
Individual level	96.7
Multi-level	3.3

Figure 3. Theories used in reviewed articles.

Figure 4. Summary of turnover antecedents and consequences from 77 reviewed paper.

Table 3. List of studies on employee turnover consequences.

Category	Turnover consequence	Study characteristics
		Reference/Country	Research design
Individual-related	Negative effects on craft productivity	(Rivas et al. 2011) United States	Case study using questionnaire survey and interviews
	Negative effects on employer-worker relation strength and worker’s skill development	(Sun et al. 2019) China	Field investigation
	Causing stress for employees	(Loosemore and Waters 2004) Australia	Quantitative using questionnaire survey
Project-related	Lack of improvement in pre-tender building cost estimates	(Aibinu and Pasco 2008) Australia	Quantitative using quantitative secondary data
	Representing challenges to project team integration/hindering innovation promotion of construction projects	(Dansoh et al. 2017) Ghana	Case studies using semi-structured interviews and archival data
	Negative effects on project performance	(Rezvani et al. 2020) Australia	Quantitative using questionnaire survey
	Negative effects on quality of internal communication within contractors	(Safapour et al. 2020) United States (75% of case studies)	Literature review, case studies, and questionnaire survey
Organization-related	Negative effects on design documentation quality	(Akampurira and Windapo 2018) South Africa	Quantitative using questionnaire survey
	High labor costs	(Sun et al. 2019) China	Field investigation
	Representing barriers to implementing construction craft training programs	(Wang et al. 2008) United States	Questionnaire survey and case studies
	Enhancing transfer of innovation knowledge across projects	(Dansoh et al. 2017) Ghana	Case studies using semi-structured interviews and archival data
	Negative effects on productivity of the entire industry	(Assaad and El-adaway 2021) United States	Quantitative using secondary longitudinal data
	Preventing development of safety culture	(Kulchartchai and Hadikusumo 2010) Thailand	Qualitative using semi-structured interviews
	Hindering safety practices implementations	(Gao et al. 2018) International markets	Mixed methods using document analysis, interviews, questionnaire survey
	Reduced safety performance of specialty contractors	(Hinze and Gambatese 2003) United States	Qualitative using questionnaire survey
	Causing difficulties for efficient deployment of safety management systems	(Yiu et al. 2018) Hong Kong	Qualitative using literature review and interviews

Table 4. Distribution of publications and research design on turnover antecedents per category.

Leading influencers		Distribution of influencers in reviewed literature (%)	Research design
			Cross-sectional (%)	Time lagged (%)	Longitudinal (%)
Personal influencers	Attitude	11	86	14	0
	Attribute	10	92	8	0
	Behaviour	2	100	0	0
	Demographic	8	70	0	30
	Psychological	7	67	33	0
Job-related influencers	Job characteristics	3	50	25	25
	Job characteristics-pay	8	91	0	9
	Job difficulties	12	94	0	6
Organizational influencers	Organizational context	5	100	0	0
	Person-context-interface	14	83	17	0
	Practices	8	91	9	0
	Supports/benefits	9	83	0	17
External influencers	External factors	4	20	0	80

Table A1. Identified factors affecting construction employee turnover.

Category	Sub-category	Key antecedent	Terms within the reviewed papers
Personal factors	Attitude	Motivation	work motivations (Ju 2020)
		Satisfaction	Job satisfaction (Leung et al. 2004, Du et al. 2006, Sun 2011, Park et al. 2014, Chow et al. 2015, Kerdngern and Thanitbenjasith 2017, Chih et al. 2018, Mardanov 2020, Rehman et al. 2020, Wang et al. 2020) Intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction (Sang et al. 2009), career satisfaction (Nauman et al. 2021) Job satisfaction (with pay, co-worker, supervision and job security), (Dodanwala and San Santoso 2021)
		Commitment	Organizational commitment (Leung et al. 2004, Du et al. 2006, Sun 2011, Park et al. 2014, Chow et al. 2015, Kerdngern and Thanitbenjasith 2017)
		Involvement	Job involvement (Rehman et al. 2020)
	Attribute	Advancement needs	Growth need strength (Hee and Ling 2011, Ling and Toh 2014), personal development (Park et al. 2021) Professional growth consideration (Zhang et al. 2021) Desire to pursue higher education, slow progress in the acquisition of knowledge, slow work progress, Desire for experience in supervising a workforce (Kaewsri et al. 2011)
		Identification	Project identification (Ding et al. 2017), organizational identification (Ugural et al. 2021), (Uğural et al. 2020)
		Knowledge and skill	Knowledge and skill (Hee and Ling 2011)
		Personal characteristics	Emotional intelligence (Rezvani et al. 2020) Personal characteristics (Park et al. 2021)
		Emotion	Anger & hostility (Livne-Ofer et al. 2019)
		Cultural values	Individual self (Uğural et al. 2020)
		Family embeddedness	(Li et al. 2019)
	Psychological	Trust	Trust (Chow et al. 2015), trust in leaders (Nawaz Khan et al. 2020)
		Burnout	Emotional exhaustion (Chih et al. 2016), cynicism and emotional exhaustion (Lingard 2003, Avila et al. 2021) Burnout (Yang et al. 2017)
		Stress and strain	Identity strain (Qin et al. 2019)
		Negative shock	(Nauman et al. 2021)
		Adjustment	Adjustment in MCPT (multi-cultural project teams) (Puck et al. 2008), urban adjustment (Qin et al. 2019)
	Demographic	Age	(Rose and Gordon 2010, Kim and Philips 2012, Al-Sadi and Khan 2018, Morello et al. 2018)
		Gender	(Huang et al. 2006, Sang et al. 2007, Maurer et al. 2021)
		Marital status	(Huang et al. 2006, Malone and Issa 2014, Morello et al. 2018, Ayodele et al. 2021)
		Work experience	Number of firms worked (Park et al. 2014) Apprentice or journey worker (Kim and Philips 2012)
		Job position	Supervisory status (being supervisor or not) (Maurer et al. 2021), job designation (Al-Sadi and Khan 2018)
	Behavior	performance	Individual performance (Leung et al. 2017)
		Absenteeism	(Kim and Philips 2014)
Job-related factors	Job difficulties	Work stress	Poor transportation (Leung et al. 2017) Job stress (Dodanwala and San Santoso 2021) Workload (Avila et al. 2021) Informal rules (high workload and long working hours) (Galea et al. 2020) Workplace strain (Bowen et al. 2021) Perceived bullying (Bernstein and Trimm 2016), bullying of subcontractor managers (Jalali et al. 2020)
		Employment condition	Temporary employment (Morrison et al. 2013), completion of fixed contract (Zhang et al. 2021)
		Commuting distance	(Ayodele et al. 2021), informal rules (geographical mobility) (Galea et al. 2020)
		Physical requirement	(Ayodele et al. 2021)
		Poor work condition	High risk work environment (Ayodele et al. 2021), poor working and living condition (Morrison et al. 2013)
		Work-life interface	work life conflict (Sang et al. 2009), work family conflict (Liu et al. 2020), family work conflict (Li et al. 2019), (Liu et al. 2020) Work life balance (Malone and Issa, 2013 Park et al. 2021)
	Job characteristics	Pay and financial aspects	Higher pay elsewhere (Malone and Issa 2013), pay (Huang et al. 2006), level of pay, (Ayodele et al. 2021) Remuneration (pay higher than market) (Kaewsri and Tongthong 2011, Kim and Philips 2012) Wage issues (Morrison et al. 2013), salary increase (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021, Zhang et al. 2021) Monetary benefit (Hee and Ling 2011), monetary rewards (pension and gratuity), (Chinyio et al. 2018)
		Job resource	Fulfilling job profile (Ayodele et al. 2021) Autonomy, task significance, feedback from the job (Hee and Ling 2011) Feedback (Naoum et al. 2020) Worksite characteristics (overmanning) (Kim and Philips 2012)
Organizational factors	Supports/benefits	Employee benefits	Employee recognition as honored (Huang et al. 2006) Employer-provided health insurance (Kim and Philips 2010) Retirement benefit (Malone and Issa 2014), early retirement opportunities (Ayodele et al. 2021) Low employee benefit (Kaewsri and Tongthong 2011) Nonmonetary awards or recognition (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021) Non-monetary benefits (i.e. holidays) (Hee and Ling 2011)
		Advancement opportunities	Promotion speed (Huang et al. 2006), promotion opportunities (Park et al. 2021) Opportunities for career development (Ayodele et al. 2021) Professional development opportunities (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021) Poor career advancement and slow work progress (Kaewsri and Tongthong 2011) No advancement opportunity; opportunity elsewhere (Malone and Issa 2013) Clear career progression path within the organization (Ling and Toh 2014)
	Organizational context	Culture/climate	Reception and incorporation of employee feedback (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021) Work environment consideration (positive gender culture in the employer company, a supportive and flexible environment in the employer company) (Zhang et al. 2021) Work environment (Al-Sadi and Khan 2018) Workplace ethics (Ayodele et al. 2021)
		Organization prestige	External prestige, (Uğural et al. 2020)
		Organizational performance	Job performance (time, cost and quality of project) (Leung et al. 2004)
	Person-context interface	Justice	Procedural justice (Nawaz Khan et al. 2020), Distributive justice (Li et al. 2021) Transparent promotion criteria (Naoum et al. 2020)
		Psychological contract breach	(Chih et al. 2016, Wang et al. 2019)
		Perceived exploitative employee-organization relationships	(Livne-Ofer et al. 2019)
		Leadership behaviors and attitudes	Leadership style (adaptive vs. traditional leaders) (Silverthorne 2000) Transformational leadership (Ding et al. 2017) Contemporary leadership (Kerdngern and Thanitbenjasith 2017) Supervisors’ supportive leadership (Chih et al. 2018) Ethical leadership (Nawaz Khan et al. 2020) Leadership style of project managers (task oriented, relations oriented) (Rehman et al. 2020) Family supportive supervisor (Liu et al. 2020)
		Person-environment Fit	(Wang et al. 2020), fits between trait and the job (Hee and Ling 2011)
		Relations	Guanxi with the horizontal leader (HL) (Li et al. 2021) Informal employment relationships (Morrison et al. 2013) employment relationship (Ayodele et al. 2021) Better relationships with manager/supervisor (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021) Relationships with co-workers (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021)
	Practices	Training	Training provided by the company (Perrenoud et al. 2020, Bigelow et al. 2021) Training investment (Ayodele et al. 2021), Return to work training (Naoum et al. 2020) Company policy: no guidance by HR department on job progression and training for the employees and working environment: The company does not provide any training in the present job hands-on (Al-Sadi and Khan 2018)
		Family-oriented practices	Outreach programs to schools, better maternity or paternity benefits, office-based childcare facilities, improved counselling and advice service, bring your child to work day (Naoum et al. 2020) Informal rules around parental leave (Galea et al. 2020)
		Diversity-oriented practices	Informal rules (masculine norms and practice) (Galea et al. 2020) Inclusion and diversity management practices (person-organization fit, gender equity, peer support, and supervisor support.) (Francis and Michielsens 2021) Companies’ program involving women inclusion (Morello et al. 2018) Improved mentoring or sponsorship, better marketing of women in leadership, line management training on gender diversity, behavioral training of staff on gender, gender-targeted development and training (Naoum et al. 2020)
		General practices	Using personality profile assessment (Childs et al. 2017) Corporate social responsibility strategies (Loosemore and Waters 2017) Informal rules (practices, narratives and norms including expectations of presenteeism, total availability) (Galea et al. 2020) Flexible working arrangement (Naoum et al. 2020), inflexibility and rigid work practices (Galea et al. 2020) Flexible working hours (Ling and Toh 2014) Greater advertisement of available senior positions (Naoum et al. 2020) Company policies (Al-Sadi and Khan 2018)
External factors	External factors	Economic condition	Economic cycles, prosperity vs recession (Huang et al. 2006)
		Union status	(Kim and Philips 2010, Morrison et al. 2013)
		Visa waving regime	(Morrison et al. 2013)
		Job alternatives	Labor market condition (Kim and Philips 2012), State monthly unemployment rate, State monthly percentage change in construction employment
		Sector status	Public/private (Maurer et al. 2021)

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [G.A], upon reasonable request.