Impact of Crew Diversity on Worker Information Access and Performance

Labor shortage has consistently been a challenge in the construction industry for decades. As a data-heavy industry, information access and technological innovations are critical for pique performance. Currently, the industry is witnessing a global trend of workforce diversity, as industry leaders are emphasizing its importance. Research shows that gender and ethnic diversity and inclusion strategies can mitigate the impact of the construction labor shortage. Despite the importance and potential benefits of crew diversity, no research has yet studied how crew diversity impacts the worker’s perceived difficulty of the process to access needed information, and their performance. The objective of this paper is to analyze and understand the impact of crew diversity on 1) the difficulty of the process to access information 2) the self-evaluated performance record and, of construction craft workers and construction frontline supervisors in the construction industry. To achieve the research objective, 2394 construction craft workers and frontline supervisors were surveyed using an online questionnaire. The survey participants were asked to self-evaluate 1) the difficulty of the process to receive or get access to information, and 2) their work personal performance record. The participants were asked to report the ethnic and gender composition of their work crew. The collected data was then analyzed. Key findings indicate that the gender and ethnic crew diversity showed a statistically significant positive impact on worker’s information access and performance.