2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The shortage of workforce in the construction industry has placed a demand on engineering and construction firms to attract and retain even more workers. The competition for qualified skilled workers within the construction sector and from other industries has impacted the labor turnover in the industry. The repeated cycle of training new hires due to labor turnover may affect organizational and project performance. Construction firms need to attract new hires and develop and retain talent in their workforce to mitigate this challenge. This study investigates the differences in human dimensions of individuals engaged on construction job sites. The aim of this paper is to identify distinctive human dimensions of skilled trades workers, essentially required for job transition within the construction industry. For this study, HEXACO personality inventory, Emotional Intelligence, and Q-DiSC behavioral diagnostics were adopted to determine personality trait differences and peculiarities between 133 General Contractor project managers and 88 Specialty field leaders (Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning). A field leader in this study functions as liaison personnel between a construction project manager and a construction crew to ensure the assigned tasks are executed. Such a person may be a foreman, superintendent, or field executive. The data collected from the 221 construction professionals were analyzed using the independent t-test to evaluate the statistically significant differences in the means of personality traits between the groups. Sincerity, Fairness, Greed-Avoidance, Fearfulness, Prudence, Inquisitiveness, and Social Awareness, among other measures, were significantly different between the groups. The differences recognized between the groups in this study can afford employees a better perspective of the traits common to the new jobs for smooth job role transition within the construction sector.