Taking the pulse of UK construction project managers' health: Influence of job demands, job control and social support on psychological wellbeing

Abstract

Purpose – In this paper the predictive capabilities of the full job strain model (JSM) for construction project managers is examined. The principal aim of the work is to determine whether employees’ psychological wellbeing in terms of worker health and job satisfaction can be reliably predicted. Design/methodology/approach – The full JSM is tested by investigating perceived work demands, job control and social support. The predictive capability of the full JSM (which encompasses job demands, job control and social support) is applied to a sample of construction project managers from the UK. Findings – The analysis of the results indicates that the JSM can significantly predict employees’ psychological wellbeing in terms of worker health and job satisfaction among the construction project managers sampled. A key finding was that social support had significant ( p , 0.0001) main effects on psychological wellbeing. Contrary to previous research, however, non-work-related support was found to be more significant than work support in alleviating psychological strain. Research limitations/implications – A model that incorporates a wider range of variables should be developed to account for the variance in strain between different roles that construction project managers adopt within an organisation and projects so they can be useful for job design. Originality/value – For the specific sample, the JSM captured the key characteristics that contributed to the job strain that they experienced. With the exception of non-work-related social support, the results support previous studies that examined the predictive capacity of the JSM.