An Analysis of the Literature on Construction Employee Turnover: Drivers, Consequences, and Future Direction

Date
2024-04-22
Authors
Abdolmaleki, Goldis
Naismith, Nicola
Ghodrati, Nariman
Poshdar, Mani
Babaeian Jelodar, Mostafa
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
Abstract

Employee turnover is a critical factor affecting organizational effectiveness. It is particularly important in the construction sector due to its knowledge and labor-intensive characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to understand why qualified employees would leave their employers so that effective measures can be taken to retain them. Despite the growing body of knowledge on employee turnover, there is a lack of comprehensive review of this topic in the construction literature. This study adopts a systematic literature review approach to synthesize domain knowledge on employee turnover from two perspectives: its investigated causes, and consequences. In total, 77 relevant papers are extracted. A total of 51 drivers of construction employee turnover are identified and categorized into personal, job-related, organizational, and external influencers. Findings also suggest three major outcomes caused by employee turnover, including individual, project, and organization-related consequences. This review contributes to understanding the turnover phenomenon in construction literature and highlights potential areas for future empirical studies to move forward. By understanding the main factors influencing turnover decisions, construction organizations can develop and implement effective means for managing employee turnover. This study further contributes to construction employee turnover research by emphasizing the importance of studying the consequences of the turnover phenomenon.

Description
Keywords
09 Engineering , 12 Built Environment and Design , 14 Economics , Building & Construction , 33 Built environment and design , 38 Economics , 40 Engineering
Source
Construction Management and Economics, ISSN: 0144-6193 (Print); 0144-6193 (Online), Taylor and Francis Group. doi: 10.1080/01446193.2024.2337084
Rights statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.