Adjusting Stressors - Job-Demand Stress in Preventing Rustout/Burnout in Estimators

Abstract

In Hong Kong, the majority of estimators experience high stress levels since the cost estimation task requires a high degree of accuracy (Peurifoy and Oberlender, 2002). In the striving for high performance, stress and stressors should be managed well in the estimation process. Stress is defined as the deviation between the expected workload and the actual ability of individual estimators in construction projects. Since stress involves both a quantitative workload (e.g., too many/few tasks) and a qualitative workload (e.g., repetitive/complicated tasks), this study investigates the stressors and stress of estimators based on two workload dimensions of JobDemand Stress. It aims to (1) identify the stressors in the estimation process, (2) investigate the impact of stressors on the Job-Demand stress of estimators in Hong Kong, and (3) analyze the interrelationship between different stressors of the construction estimators. Using factor analysis and correlation analysis, six main stressors have been revealed in the estimation process. The study revealed that there is a significant relationship between quantitative and qualitative stress levels. Job-Demand stressors such as Work Underload and Home-Work Conflict have a significant effect on qualitative Job-Demand stress and indirectly affect the quantitative stress of estimators. Stress is not only caused quantitatively and qualitatively by workload, but also affected by personal stressors in the estimation process.