The Construction Industry from the Perspective of the Worker s Social Experience

Historically, the construction industry is not perceived as having the most culturally or socially tolerant workplace compared to other industries. Studies indicate that a culturally tolerant workplace climate has a positive impact on workplace and employee productivity. In this study, we surveyed 2740 construction workers across the United States using an online questionnaire. The survey participants were asked to rate how they feel on a Likert scale ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" five categories regarding whether (1) they feel respected at work, (2) job conditions allow them to be as productive as they could be, (3) they are treated in a manner that is unprofessional either publicly or privately, (4) they have been the target of bad jokes or derogatory comments, and (5) their coworkers can be relied on when they need help. These questions are adopted from the "General Social Survey (GSS)," a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States, and the best source for sociological and attitudinal trend data covering the US. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the construction workforce's attitudes to these social and cultural issues with national trends using the GSS data. Furthermore, the collected results will be analyzed based on gender groups. Key findings show, with statistical significance, that the construction industry has worse experiences in categories 2 and 4, and that females in the construction industry have significantly worse experiences compared to males in all analyzed categories.