Job Burnout of Construction Project Managers: Considering the Role of Organizational Justice

Abstract

Construction project managers (CPMs) of contractors experience a great deal of stress. In this study, the authors used job burnout as a core indicator of the chronic psychological stress of CPMs. Based on the job demand-resource model, a theoretical framework was proposed to investigate the causal path of job burnout of CPMs, especially the role of organizational justice. A questionnaire with a presurvey was developed referencing various psychometric and organizational behavior scales. Then, in 217, a survey was conducted throughout China through face-to-face interviews, e-mails, and an online questionnaire system. The validity of the measurement was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, and the hypothetical model was validated with structural equation modeling. Subsequently, 14 mediating effects and 2 moderating effects of organizational justice on job burnout were identified. The results showed that different organizational justice dimensions have different pathways in the causal chain of job burnout of CPMs. Temporal and spatial injustice was most prominent and led to exhaustion of CPMs. Through mediating paths, distributive justice had the most significant impact on the cynicism and low professional efficacy of CPMs, while procedural and interactional injustice resulted in their exhaustion. In addition, procedural and interactional justice buffered the impact of job stress on job burnout.