JOB BURNOUT WITHIN THE HONG KONG CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

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1 2005 CIB W92/T23/W107 International Symposium on Procurement Systems The Impact of Cultural Differences and Systems on Construction Performance February 7 th 10 th ; 2005 Las Vegas, NV USA JOB BURNOUT WITHIN THE HONG KONG CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE Brenda Yip 1, Steve Rowlinson 2, Thomas Kvan 3, and Helen Lingard 4 1 Department of Real Estate and Construction, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2 Department of Real Estate and Construction, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 3 Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 4 School of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ABSTRACT This survey was conducted to investigate the phenomenon of burnout among construction professionals within the Hong Kong construction industry. The structure of burnout and its contributing factors and consequential effects on work and non-work aspects were examined Emotional exhaustion and cynicism as structured within the most widely recognised model of burnout was found to be valid. However, a diminished sense of professional efficacy was divided into two factors; named self-worth and self-esteem, which were shown to be comparatively insignificant within the model. Job characteristics were found to be relatively more significant when compared with demographic and personality traits in predicting burnout. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism were proved to be strong and reliable predictors of the construction professional s turnover. The results were compared with those obtained from similar studies previously undertaken in Australia. Data was found that supported the theory that construction professionals in Hong Kong had demonstrated a weaker positive relationship between burnout and work-family stressors over the civil engineers contained within the Australian study. It was therefore concluded that cultural aspects within the environment are likely to influence the formation and implications of burnout which may in turn also induce an impact on the overall performance in the industry. Keywords: burnout, construction professionals, culture, job demands, turnover. INTRODUCTION Maslach et al. (1996) defined burnout as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. Burnout contributed by job demands decreases the individuals level of job satisfaction, productivity and increases turnover intention that consequentially lowers the organisations performance. The nature of burnout and its relationship with personal and organisational settings has been studied in many countries among various occupations. Hong Kong s cultural mix is likely to have an influence on the formation and implications of burnout, which may be considerably different from other societies; nevertheless, little research is available to explore this phenomenon. Many work-related predictors of burnout are observed to be present within the local construction industry, for example, working under conditions of high rates of industrial and fatal accident (Labour Department, 2003), unfavourable environments 1 brenda@hkusua.hku.hk 3 tkvan@hku.hk 2 steverowlinson@hku.hk 4 helenlingard@hotmail.com

2 on site (Dainty et al., 1999), role conflict between professional standards and budget constraints (Bacharach et al., 1991), uncertainty and high risk (Haynes and Love, 2004). In view of these observations, it was logical to believe that the construction professionals have experienced a substantial degree of job burnout. This study aimed to identify the main constituents of job burnout and investigate how and to what extent they may impact on an individual performance. Preventing or minimising job burnout phenomena would therefore help to reduce associated costs; increasing overall performance and efficiency within construction organisations. This study was built on the methodology of a recent similar survey conducted by Lingard (2003) among Australian engineers and explored the burnout phenomenon using data collected within Hong Kong,. The results of these two surveys were compared for enabling an evaluation of the impact that cultural differences may have on job burnout and that in turn may also affect the overall construction performance. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Implications of burnout Burnout is widely associated with absenteeism, staff turnover, reduced productivity or effectiveness and lower levels of satisfaction and organisational commitment (Schaufeli and Enzmann, 1998; Maslach et al., 2001). The relationship between emotional exhaustion and staff turnover is further confirmed by Maslach et al. (1996) and Lingard (2003). Research also showed burnout to have negative ramifications on organisational effectiveness (Wright and Bonett, 1997). At an individual level, within non-working environments, Maslach et al. (2001) declared that burnout was associated with the experience of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, reduced self-esteem and substance abuse. Burnout can be contagious and can have spill-over effects that affect the families of individuals (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). Previous research has suggested job insecurity (Larson et al., 1994) and long work hours (Aldous et al., 1979) are negatively related to participation in family affairs and have a positive association with the divorce rate. Lingard and Sublet (2002) provided further support for the linkage between job and organisational sources of work-related stress and the level satisfaction in personal relationships. Predictors of burnout Carroll and White (1982) claim that burnout is a result of a complex interaction of personal factors and characteristics of the work and non-work environments which different industries occupy. A number of authors have identified a relationship between burnout and characteristics of the organisation such as high staff turnover rate and absenteeism (Maslach, 1978), centralisation of authority (Armstrong, 1979; Carroll, 1979), inflexible rules (Freudenberger, 1977; Kahn, 1978). An increasing body of research suggests that burnout (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993) is a major reaction produced by job stressors. These include subjective overload, responsibility, role clarity or role conflict, various aspects of job satisfaction and control over one s work (Maslach et al., 2001, Schaufeli and Enzmann 1998). Some demographic characteristics have been linked to burnout. For example, young, single employees seem to be more prone to burnout than older, married employees (Maslach et al., 2001). It was therefore be interesting to study the role of gender in relation to burnout in a male-dominated industry like the construction industry. Several personality variables have also been examined as predictors of burnout. For example, people who have difficulty in persevering but act aggressively burnout faster (Armstrong, 1979). Please leave the footers empty

3 The overly dedicated and excessively committed employees are the most prone to burnout (Freudenberger, 1974). Other personality factors linked to burnout include idealism and high aspirations (Emener, 1979). Women tend to be more inclined to show emotion and may feel guilty about working rather than being home with their families (Kramer, 1979). In certain groups, cynicism reduces the energy available for performing work and for developing creative solutions to the problems work presents (Maslach et al., 2001). Research has found burnout to be related to coping styles. Maslach et al. (1996) confirmed the relationship of personal accomplishment with coping; in particular, control-oriented coping is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. While not everybody reacts to similar work-related demands in the same way; some individuals manage to cope better than others do; hence have a reduced chance of experiencing burnout (Haynes and Love, 2004). It therefore is important to investigate how some people appear to cope well, without experiencing the effects of burnout, despite heavy job demands and what are their specific coping strategies in their particular work settings. Impact of culture on burnout Culture provides another layer of environmental influence of burnout at a general level. Nevertheless, theorists have also suggested that individuals internalise cultural influence as a structure of habits (Triandis, 1995) and software of the mod (Hofstede, 1997). Thus, culture may be carried as a personal variable used in the cognitive appraisal and coping processes described by Lazarus (1999). In a comparative study of work-family stressors, work hours, and well-being was described contrasting two culturally distinct regions: Anglo (Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, and U.S.) and China (Hong Kong, People s Republic of China, and Taiwan), support was found that Anglos would demonstrate a stronger positive relation between work hours and work-family stressors than Chinese and Latins (Spector et al., 2004). The study also illustrated that China was the only region in which being married and having more children related positively to all measures of well-being. Schaufeli et al., (1995) found that levels of burnout differed among national samples. This suggests that levels of burnout vary across cultures, work settings and occupational groups. It is interesting and may be useful to understand how the cultural mix of Hong Kong influences the formation and implications of burnout that may be different from other societies. RESEARCH METHOD A pilot study of the survey was conducted by distributing self-administrated questionnaires to construction professionals in Hong Kong. It aimed to test and assure the validity and reliability of scales to be utilised within local context to measure burnout and its associated variables. Demographic information collected included the respondent s age, gender and martial/relationship status, their partners employment status, the number of children they have and the age of their youngest child. Personality to be identified included neuroticism, extroversion, optimism and impulsiveness (Schell, 1997) and quickwittedness (Lingard, 2003). Job-related variables previous identified to be linked to burnout, such as role conflict, satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with job security, work demands, control over work pace, were determined. Organisation-related variables previous identified to be linked to burnout, such as lack of support, care and fairness, centralised authority, span of supervisory control, were also measured. Coping strategy was assessed with the Ways of Coping Please leave footer empty

4 Questionnaire (Folkman and Lazarus, 1988). The 16 items Maslach Burnout Inventory (the MBI-General Survey) (Maslach et al., 1996) was used to measure burnout in three sub-scales. Respondents were also asked to indicate their intention to quit or look for a new job. ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (Fowers and Olson, 1993) was referred to assess the respondents satisfaction regarding their relationship with their partner. RESULTS Description of the sample The pilot study obtained 30 completed and usable questionnaires. The respondents were predominantly employed in contracting organisations (80%). Only 13% respondents indicated they worked for consulting firms and 7% respondents reported working for public utilities companies. Half and half of respondents indicated that they spend most of their time at work on site and an office environment respectively. The majority of respondents (63%) were married. A further 17% indicated that they had partners. Of those respondents who were married or had partner, 72% of their spouse/partner were under paid employment. Only 28 % of respondents who had a spouse/partner were not in paid employment. The sample contained 43% parents and 57% non-parents. Factorial structure of the burnout phenomenon Although burnout is widely conceptualised as a three-factor phenomenon (Maslach et al., 2001), there are also other factorial structures. Lingard (2003) and Densten (2001) identified a four-factor and a five-factor burnout model respectively and contained different interpretations. The structure of the burnout phenomenon among our sample was examined using Principal Components Factor Analysis. The results of this analysis are presented in Table 1. As the item loadings indicate, the majority of the emotional exhaustion and cynicism scale items loaded as expected. However, the personal efficacy items were be broken down into separate factors, yielding a fourfactor solution overall. This solution accounted for 75% of total variance. Cronbach s alpha coefficients (α ) were calculated to determine the internal consistency reliability of the four burnout factors. These coefficients were 0.91 for emotional exhaustion, 0.50 for cynicism, 0.86 for professional efficacy (self-worth) and 0.91 for professional efficacy (self-esteem). Correlates of burnout Bivariate Pearson correlations between the burnout dimensions, demographic, workrelated variables and personality are presented in Table 2. Owning to the large number of independent variables in predicting burnout, only those found to be significantly correlated with each of the burnout dimensions were indicated. Of the demographic variables, it was very interesting to observed that working hours of the respondents partner (but not that of the respondents themselves) was identified to be positively correlated with both emotional exhaustion (r = 0.415, p = 0.023) and cynicism (r = 0.486, p = 0.006). Of the work-related variables, only one was positively correlated with emotional exhaustion. This was insufficient resources (r = 0.494, p = 0.006). Four work-related variables were negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion. These were the amount of authority (r = , p = 0.001), satisfaction with pay (r = , p = 0.024), job design (r = , p = 0.010) and span of supervisory control (r = , p = 0.024). Two work-related variables were positively correlated with cynicism. These were work demands (r = 0.464, p = 0.010) and insufficient resources Please leave the footers empty

5 Table 1 Factorial structure of burnout Factor 1 EV = 5.56 Factor 2 EV =2.97 Factor 3 EV = 1.92 Factor 4 EV = 1.63 Emotional exhaustion (α = 0.91) Q Q Q Q Cynicism (α = 0.50) Q Q Q Q Q Professional efficacy (self-worth) : α = 0.86 Q Q Q Q Personal efficacy (self-esteem) : α = 0.71 Q Q Q Legend: α = Cronbach s alpha coefficients, EV = Eigenvalues (r = 0.497, p = 0.005). Three work-related variables were negatively correlated with cynicism. These included perception of work performance (r = , p = 0.006), organisation s care on staff s well-being (r = , p = 0.007) and fairness of immediate supervisor on sub-ordinates (r = , p = 0.003). Of the personality traits, both impulsiveness (r = 0.430, p =0.018) and quickwittedness (r = 0.455, p=0.012) were positively correlated with emotional exhaustion. Both the neuroticism (r = 0.454, p=0.012) and impulsiveness (r = 0.543, p=0.002 were positively correlated with cynicism dimension of burnout. None of the burnout dimensions was significantly correlated with martial satisfaction. Regression analysis To test the ability of the independent variables to predict burnout, a multiple regression procedure was used. The resulting models show the unique contribution of each independent variable in predicting burnout. Owing to the large number of independent variables, only those found to be significantly correlated with each of the burnout dimensions were included in the regression model for that dimension. The results of the regression analyses are presented in Table 3. 45% of variation in emotional exhaustion can be explained by the specific regression model (adjusted R 2 Please leave footer empty

6 2005 CIB W92/T23/W107 International Symposium on Procurement Systems The Impact of Cultural Differences and Systems on Construction Performance February 7 th 10 th ; 2005 Las Vegas, NV USA Table 2 Pearson correlations between demographic, personality, job-related variables, emotional exhaustion and cynicism Partner's Work-hours - 2. Sufficient authority Insufficient resources ** - 4. Satisfaction with pay Job design Span of supervisory control * 0.600*** Work demands * * - 8. Perception of work performance * ** 0.456* Organisation s care on staff's well-being * 0.485* *** * 0.527** 10. Fairness of Immediate supervisor ** 0.438* 0.587** 0.519** Impulsiveness * quickwittedness ** neuroticism * Emotional Exhaustion 0.415* * * * * Cynicism 0.486* * * * Partner's Work-hours 2. Sufficient authority 3. Insufficient resources 4. Satisfaction with pay 5. Job design 6. Span of supervisory control 7. Work demands 8. Perception of work performance 9. Organisation s care on staff's well-being Fairness of Immediate supervisor 0.507** Impulsiveness quickwittedness * neuroticism ** Emotional Exhaustion * 0.455* Cynicism * ** 0.543** * 0.483* - *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed); **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed); ***Correlation is significant at the level (2-tailed).

7 2005 CIB W92/T23/W107 International Symposium on Procurement Systems The Impact of Cultural Differences and Systems on Construction Performance February 7 th 10 th ; 2005 Las Vegas, NV USA = 0.454). Significant predictors of emotional exhaustion included insufficient resources at work (β = 0.420, p = 0.006), satisfaction with pay (β = , p = 0.024), job design (β = , p = 0.010) and span of supervisory control (β = 0.447, p = 0.024). Two personality characteristics that predicted emotional exhaustion were impulsiveness (β = 0.132, p = 0.018) and quickwittedness (β = 0.295, p = 0.12). 47% of variation in cynicism can be explained by the specific regression model (adjusted R 2 = 0.465). Among the work-related variables, insufficient of resources at work (β = 0.056, p = 0.005), work demands (β =0.348, p = 0.010) and perception of work performance (β = , p = 0.006), organisation s care on staff's well-being (β = , p = 0.007) and fairness of immediate supervisor (β = , p = 0.003) had significant predictive ability for cynicism. Of the personality variables, neuroticism (β = , p =0.012) and impulsiveness (β = 0.247, p = ) were also significant predictors of cynicism. Table 3 Predictors of emotional exhaustion and cynicism Variables Beta ( β ) P Emotional Exhaustion Cumulative R 2 = ; Cumulative adjusted R 2 = Insufficient of resources at work Satisfaction with pay and fringe benefits Job design Span of supervisory control Impulsiveness Quickwittedness Cynicism Cumulative R 2 = ; Cumulative adjusted R 2 = Insufficient of resources at work Work demands Perception of work performance Organisation cares on staff's well-being Fairness of Immediate supervisor Impulsiveness Neuroticism Table 4 shows the bivariate correlation coefficients for the personality, emotional exhaustion, cynicism and turnover intention. Of the personality traits, both impulsiveness (r = 0.502, p=0.005), neuroticism (r = 0.526, p=0.003), and quickwittedness (r = 0.527, p=0.003) were positively correlated with turnover intention. Both emotional exhaustion (r = 0.771, p = 0.000) and cynicism (r = 0.579, p = 0.001) were positively and highly significantly correlated with turnover intention. A multiple regression procedure was then conducted to test the ability of emotional exhaustion and cynicism of the burnout dimension to predict intention to turnover. The result of this regression analysis are presented in Table 5. The regression model explained 63% of variation in turnover intention (adjusted R 2 = 0625). The analysis showed that emotional exhaustion (β = 0.641, p = ) and cynicism (β = 0.269, p = 0.001) were significant and reliable predictors of respondents stated intention to leave their current employment.

8 Table 4 Pearson correlations between personality traits, emotional exhaustion, cynicism and turnover Impulsiveness - 2. Neuroticism 0.581** - 3. Quickwittedness Emotional exhaustion 0.430* * - 5. Cynicism 0.543** 0.454* * - 6. Turnover intention 0.502** 0.526** 0.527** 0.771*** 0.579** - Table 5 Emotional exhaustion and cynicism as predictors of turnover intention Turnover Intention Cumulative R 2 = 0.650; Cumulative adjusted R 2 = Beta ( β ) Emotional exhaustion Cynicism P DISCUSSION The comparisons made here are interesting and potentially useful in describing construction professionals across differing cultures. A slightly different factorial structure of burnout was found within the sample. The implication of diminishing professional efficacy due to burnout is not as significant as similar studies in other countries. Hong Kong construction professionals appear to possess a vigorous sense of the self-worth and self-esteem of their professional capacity. Similar to other research, job characteristics are found to be the strongest predictor of burnout. Job re-design may therefore be an effective preventive strategy. However, job re-design can also be costly and sometimes is not feasible given the job setting. Training courses for adjusting certain personality may hence also assist in lowering the levels of staff burnout since certain personality traits appear to be the second most significant predictor of burnout. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism were proved to be strong and reliable predictors of construction professional s turnover. This result suggests that a preventive strategy of burnout could also contribute to reduce turnover and its induced costs to organisations. When compared to the results of the similar study conducted within Australia (Lingard and Sublet, 2002), construction professionals in Hong Kong demonstrated an insignificant negative relationship between job demands and marital satisfaction This phenomenon was supported by a recent cross-national comparative study which explained that, when compared with Anglo world, Chinese possess a higher level of familism and collectivism and this makes them view themselves as part of a larger social network that can include extended families and work groups (Sepctor et al., 2004). In view of such cultural difference, creation of family friendly working environments to reduce the levels of staffs burnout may not be as effective as they may be if they were introduced within cultural groups where a high level of familism and collectivism does not already exist. Please leave the footers empty

9 CONCLUSION Both structure and level of burnout vary across cultures. The cultural mix of Hong Kong influences the formation and implications of burnout have been shown to be different from other societies. Intervention strategies, drawn from data which cannot take account of these differences, should be reviewed for its cultural relevance before being applied to prospective solutions. LIMITIATION AND FURTHER RESEARCH The findings presented in this paper were based on 30 returned questionnaires in a pilot study. The main survey of the study is targeted to obtain approximately 200 selfadministered questionnaires; followed by in-depth interviews conducted among a subset of the sample to further explore and develop the interrelationships between organisational and individual variables found in the quantitative survey. This will then be linked to the experience of burnout from construction professionals in Hong Kong in a fuller picture. Future research is suggested to include a broader span of cultures. Such effort made during the current study did not come to fruition. REFERENCE Aldous, J., Osmond M. W. and Hicks, M. W. (1979). Men s work and men s family, in Contemporary Theories about the Family, Burr, W. R., Hill, R., Nye, F. I. and Reiss, I. L. (eds), The Free Press, New York. Armstrong, K. L. (1979). How to avoid burnout: a study of the relationship between burnout and worker, organisational and management characteristics in eleven child abuse and neglect projects. Child Abuse and Neglect, Bacharach, S. B., Bamberger, P. and Conley, S. (1991). Work-home conflict among nurses and engineers: mediating the impact of role stress on burnout and satisfaction at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 12, Carroll, J. F. X. and White, W. L. (1982). Theory building: integrating individual and environmental factors within an ecological framework, in Paine, W.S. (Ed), Job Stress and burnout, Sage, Newbury Park. Cordes, C. L. and Dougherty, T. W. (1993). A review and an integration of research on job burnout, Academy of Management Review, 18, Dainty, A. R. J., Neale, R. H., and Bagilhole, B. M. (1999). Women s careers in large construction companies: Expectations unfulfilled? Career Development, International, 4(7), Densten, I. L. (2001). Re-thinking burnout, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, Emener, W. G. (1979). Professional burnout: rehabilitation s hidden handicap. Journal of Rehabilitation, 45(1), Fowers, B. J. and Olson D. H. (1993). ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale: A brief research and clinical tool, Journal of Family Psychology, 7(2), Freudenberger, H. J. (1974). Staff burnout, Journal of Social Issues, 30, Please leave footer empty

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