Technical Papers
Oct 4, 2023

Need for Recovery among Site-Based Construction Practitioners in Australia: A Latent Class Analysis and Multinomial Logistic Regression

Publication: Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 40, Issue 1

Abstract

Need for recovery (NFR) is an early indicator of work-related fatigue that has negative implications for worker health and safety. However, little attention has been paid to NFR in the construction industry. This study aims to investigate NFR patterns across site-based construction practitioners and their relationships with job (i.e., perceived role overload and main role) and employee characteristics (i.e., age, gender, educational level, marital status, and having children or not) in the construction industry. Data collected from 243 site-based construction practitioners were analyzed by latent class analysis (LCA) and multinomial logistic regression. Four NFR classes were identified by LCA and defined as low, moderately low, moderately high, and high. Results revealed that a combined 54% of site-based construction practitioners belonged to the moderately high and high NFR classes. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that site-based construction practitioners who perceived more role overload (versus those who perceived less role overload), held site management positions (versus tradespeople), or were female (versus male) were more likely to be in the high NFR class. The significance of this study lies in enriching the knowledge of NFR in the construction industry.

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Data Availability Statement

The survey data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.

Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was supported by the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award of the Australian Research Council for the project “Improving Mental Health and Safety in the Construction Industry” (Project ID: DE190100657).

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Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 40Issue 1January 2024

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Received: Mar 25, 2023
Accepted: Aug 8, 2023
Published online: Oct 4, 2023
Published in print: Jan 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Mar 4, 2024

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Chenjunyan Sun [email protected]
Research Assistant, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Carol K. H. Hon [email protected]
Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, Univ. of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7493-7336. Email: [email protected]
Nerina L. Jimmieson [email protected]
Professor, School of Management, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland Univ. of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. Email: [email protected]

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