Burnout of undergraduate construction management students in Australia: Fid-Bau Portal

Burnout of undergraduate construction management students in Australia

Moore, Peter / Loosemore, Martin

Burnout has been identified as a serious problem for the Australian construction industry, having negative effects at both individual and the organizational levels. While there is accumulating research into the causes and consequences of burnout for professionals working in the construction industry, we have little understanding of construction students’ susceptibility to burnout. This is despite constantly increasing pressures to self-fund their studies and balance the extra demands of study, on top of work-life demands. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Student Survey (MBI-SS), a survey of 369 construction management students from across eight Australian universities shows that Australian students suffer from considerably higher levels of burnout than comparative professional samples. Levels of burnout showed a relationship with both their time spent at work and their overall satisfaction with study and work life, raising important issues for both educators and employers. It was also found that academic study may not be the primary life domain of many of these students and that theoretically, the notion of work-life-study balance may be a more appropriate way, than traditional concepts of work-life balance, to conceptualize the challenges faced by these students.