Informal housing construction workers’ perceptions toward the improvement of effective leadership and performance

Abstract

Practically, as other construction projects, the workforce in housing construction projects is still dominated by informal workers who belong to a group and controlled by a leader. Accordingly, developer companies consider that informal worker leaders play an important role in improving the informal workers’ performance in housing construction projects. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the effective leadership style that can improve the performance of informal workers in housing construction projects based on the workers’ perceptions. The implications of this research can be used to improve the informal workers’ performance both of national and multinational developer companies so they can perform more effectively in completing housing construction projects. The research used qualitative method with phenomenological approach to reveal an assessment based on perceptions and perspectives of informal construction workers. Finally, it was found that the effective leadership style according to the informal workers’ perceptions is the transactional leadership which includes being liked by the workers, concerning and appreciating, as well as being consistent with commitments. Thus, effective performance and leadership will be achieved as informal construction workers will work hard under this leadership style.