Perceptions of Career Success in the Construction Industry in Wales

Abstract

This research develops an understanding of how workers from the construction industry in Wales define their career success. Career success is defined in a variety of ways across the literature, often divided into objective and subjective career success indicators. A lack of research from the construction industry demonstrates the need to establish the career success indicators of those within this sector. A pragmatic approach was adopted with the aim of understanding the desirable work-related outcomes and developing ways to act upon the skills shortage issue within the construction industry. A qualitative approach was used to understand the thoughts and perceptions of those within the construction industry in relation to career success. Semi-structured interviews were used to examine the perceptions of career success of twenty-eight workers within the construction industry in Wales. Fifteen emerging themes were identified which summarised the general views of the participants in terms of their career success. Four overarching themes summarising the career success indicators were presented, namely: lifestyle, career development, workplace values and work-related outcomes. This research expands on the previous literature (Aryee, Chay and Tan, 1994; Pan and Zhou, 2015), highlighting a different approach to the categorisation of career success indicators. The skills shortage within the UK construction industry is one that is widely publicised and heavily discussed. Additional interviews were carried out with industry leaders to reflect upon the findings and develop a conceptual implementation plan which proposes changes in company and industry practice to promote career success within the construction industry. This research could have significant practical implications to those aiming to tackle the skills shortage within the construction industry as understanding the desirable work-related outcomes will provide valuable insights regarding ways in which the industry can adapt and react to the difficulties it faces in terms of worker recruitment and retention

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Aberystwyth University
Supervisor	Sophie Bennett-Gillison (Supervisor)