Toward a flourishing workplace: exploring the impact of digitalization on young construction professionals’ physical–mental well-being

Abstract

Purpose

The construction industry has more propensity to negatively affect employees’ physical–mental well-being due to the inherently intense and demanding nature of the work involved. Digitalization can streamline the construction processes, and reduce stress, overtime and overall job-related pressure generated due to the nature of employment, contributing to the well-being of employees. Hence, the authors examined how digitalization, technostress and individual resilience could contribute to construction professionals’ physical–mental well-being using the transaction model of stress, self-determination theory and job-demand resources theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 86 young professionals using a structured survey. The professionals were working in Indian construction organizations where digitalization is implemented extensively. The survey consists of 21 items to measure four latent variables namely digitalization, technostress, physical–mental well-being and individual resilience. The study employs a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to examine the theoretical model empirically.

Findings

The results revealed that digitalization was positively associated with physical–mental well-being and negatively associated with technostress. Further, individual resilience was a moderating variable in the relationship between digitalization and technostress. Finally, technostress partially mediated the relationship between digitalization and physical–mental well-being.

Originality/value

Digitalization has emerged as a valuable tool to tackle these challenges and improve the overall well-being of construction personnel. In the present study, digitalization is found to augment the physical–mental well-being of young construction professionals. Also, digitalization helps to significantly reduce technostress, thereby improving the physical–mental well-being of young professionals.

Citation

Batra, S. and Halder, A. (2024), "Toward a flourishing workplace: exploring the impact of digitalization on young construction professionals’ physical–mental well-being", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-02-2024-0190