Differentiation in Emotional Investments in Work Groups among Different Social Status of Construction Industry Practitioners: A Perspective from the Social Exchange Theory

Abstract

The construction industry is characterized by a high level of mobility and a diverse range of practitioners from different social status, which can affect the industry’s group management processes. The exploration of the mechanisms involved is an important task for theoretical research and a challenge for management practices. This study examines three relevant aspects of work-group behavior in the construction industry from a social exchange perspective: the individual’s evaluation of the level of the emotional investment of members in the work team and their assessment of personal rewards and costs. The study of 71 construction industry workers through the development of a cost-benefit inventory questionnaire of individual-team exchange relationships revealed that their level of emotional investment in the work group can be predicted by assessing their awareness of personal rewards and costs. A further clustering algorithm revealed that an individual’s social status had a significant impact on their level of affective investment, but there was no significant correlation between an individual’s wage and their level of emotional investment in the work team. The findings deepen our understanding of group behaviors in the construction field by explaining the interactions between individuals and organizations in work groups while emphasizing the indispensable role of emotional factors in group development.