Abstract
Employees hold a range of attitudes and beliefs about their work life. This paper’s contribution to the overall body of knowledge is to further the understanding of how construction professionals’ work values are influenced by generational status. Improved understanding of the relationship between work values and generations can inform construction companies’ support for current employees and recruitment of new employees. This study collected survey data to investigate the work values of construction professionals. The data were explored to examine similarities and differences in responses based on membership in a specific generation (e.g., baby boomer or Generation Xer). Prior research regarding work values and generational status presents mixed findings, with some studies reporting differences and others finding no differences among generations. Analysis of this survey data revealed very few differences among generations, suggesting that construction companies adapting practices based solely on generational status may be doing so to their detriment. The results contribute to the growing body of research that explores generational differences in work values.
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Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the contributions of Tyler Beach to the broader research on the work values of construction professional staff through his technical report on the topic. In addition, the authors launched a Workforce Challenges community of practice at Virginia Tech and have gained many insights from interacting with this group. Particularly, the authors thank Paul Carter, who serves as the industry lead of that group. Finally, the authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Foundation for supporting this work under CAREER Grant Nos. EEC-1351156 and EEC-1463802. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 10 • October 2018
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©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2017
Accepted: Apr 23, 2018
Published online: Jul 30, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 30, 2018
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