Need for Recovery among Site-Based Construction Practitioners in Australia: A Latent Class Analysis and Multinomial Logistic Regression

Abstract

Need for recovery (NFR) is an early indicator of work-related fatigue that has negative implications for worker health and safety. However, little attention has been paid to NFR in the construction industry. This study aims to investigate NFR patterns across site-based construction practitioners and their relationships with job (i.e., perceived role overload and main role) and employee characteristics (i.e., age, gender, educational level, marital status, and having children or not) in the construction industry. Data collected from 243 site-based construction practitioners were analyzed by latent class analysis (LCA) and multinomial logistic regression. Four NFR classes were identified by LCA and defined as low, moderately low, moderately high, and high. Results revealed that a combined 54% of site-based construction practitioners belonged to the moderately high and high NFR classes. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that site-based construction practitioners who perceived more role overload (versus those who perceived less role overload), held site management positions (versus tradespeople), or were female (versus male) were more likely to be in the high NFR class. The significance of this study lies in enriching the knowledge of NFR in the construction industry.