Investigating the Relationship between Occupational Stress and Work-Life Balance among Indian Construction Professionals

The construction industry has long been recognized as a stressful industry, due to its complexity and management of a large number of stakeholders. Occupational stress causes a negative impact on both the work and personal life of professionals. Previous studies have established that occupational stress of construction professionals is strongly associated with low productivity, high absenteeism, and poor work performance. However, there is a lack of scientific studies that provide linkages between occupational stressors and the dimensions of work-life balance. The present research aims to study the perceived level of occupational stress and assess its relationship with the dimensions of work-life balance among construction professionals. Within an established theoretical framework, eight hypotheses were formulated to investigate the above relationship. A cross-sectional survey-based approach was adopted to assess the level of occupational stress and work-life balance. The survey was administered among construction project managers, project engineers, and site engineers in the Indian context. With 285 valid responses, relative importance index and multiple regression analysis methods were utilised to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed major stressors that contribute to high levels of occupational stress under work-related and organisation-related stressor categories. The top five identified stressors included job nature demands coordination with multiple stakeholders, tight time frame for work, unstable working hours, bureaucracy, and quantitative work overload. With regards to the relationship between the categories of occupational stress and work-life balance, the results indicate that work-related stressors are significantly and positively related to work interference to personal life (WIPL) and personal life interference to work (PLIW) and negatively relate to work enhancement of personal life (WEPL) and personal life enhancement of work (PLEW). In the case of organisation-related stressors, both organisation policy and organisation position-related stressors significantly and positively influence WIPL however, no significant relationship was noticed with PLIW, WEPL, and PLEW. While the existing studies have provided evidence that work-life imbalance causes occupational stress, one of the major contributions of the present study is that it provides valid scientific evidence that occupational stress significantly influences work-life life balance negatively. The study’s findings with regards to unveiling the relationship between the categories of occupational stressors and dimensions of work-life balance would help organisations derive relevant policies for creating a supportive work environment. To this end, the paper advances our collective understanding of occupational stress and work-life balance with multiple dimensions and perspectives

Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure Development - Case Studies from Asia and Europe

Development of infrastructure projects with private engagement through PPP has become one of the commonly adopted procurement strategies in developed and developing countries. All over the world where PPP procurement has been used in one form or another, the way in which it is carried out has become an important issue. Yet, there is no standard method of PPP implementation as each country adapts the process as appropriate for its own culture, economy, political climate and legal system. It is therefore essential that all parties likely to be involved have a common understanding of the principles underlying PPP structures and an appreciation of the key issues from the standpoints of the private as well as the public sectors. PPP projects with substantial private investments involve participation of stakeholders with diverse perspectives, which can lead to different perceptions on the viability of the project. The introduction chapter covers the general issues of PPP implementation and presents an overview of the use of PPP in the delivery of public infrastructure and services across the world. Following, in five case studies PPP projects from Asia and Europe are presented and reveal differences in the respective approaches of each country. The case studies analyze project objectives, scope and site as well as legal, contractual and financial framework under which the projects were realized. Each case study closes with a chapter discussing the different approaches and summarizing lessons learned