Employee Turnover Intentions in the Construction Industry: A Quantitative Correlational Study

Abstract

Construction companies are able to show an increased bottom line by developing strategies to retain employees. However, the cost to develop and implement strategies that can decrease employee turnover is a substantial investment. As costs continue to rise in most business functions, strategies to facilitate cost savings must be identified and implemented to become or remain profitable. The Herzberg Two-Factor Theory served as the conceptual framework was chosen for this study and provided a baseline for developing retention strategies within the construction industry. The purpose of this single quantitative exploratory case study was to identify the retention factors that provided the greatest impact to retain construction employees. There was a sample of 68 individuals selected for this study, consisting of laborers within the U.S. construction industry. An online survey was used to collect the data, and the findings are intended to add to the current body of knowledge by identifying the impact that job satisfaction factors in the construction industry. A correlational analysis as well as a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to reveal the relationships between job satisfaction and employee turnover intention. The findings of this study results revealed a moderate negative relationship between job satisfaction, both intrinsic and extrinsic and employee turnover intention. Additionally, the study found that by implementing developed retention strategies using factors of job satisfaction, organizational leadership can understand the drivers for employee retention, and increase overall job satisfaction, profitability, and productivity. The study limitations, implication, recommendations for practice and future research are also discussed in detail. Lastly, the study shows that the nature of the association between job satisfaction and employee turnover intention is significant to industrial psychological practices.