Ranking and analyzing key motivation factors of engineers in the construction industry

There is no doubt that human resources have a significant role in running any successful business. The literature indicates that this role is almost neglected in the construction industry. One of the important factors to increase productivity in various industries is to increase the productivity of human resources. Human resource productivity is a function of various factors where motivation is one of the most important factors. Considering the effect of motivation on innovation and the necessity of innovation in construction design firms, studying motivational factors of Architects and Engineers (AE) is of great importance. In this research, the most critical factors affecting Architects’ and Engineers’ motivation were recognized through literature review. These factors were classified into five main categories including Leadership and management, service compensation system, organizational atmosphere, social status, and job nature (current tasks – immediate situation and job development). Then, the factors were ranked by the industry experts through online questionnaires. Learning opportunity, distributive, procedural & interactional justice, and job promotion opportunity were ranked as the top critical motivational factors. However, it must be noted that important factors may differ considering the demographic properties of the interviewees. As a result, factors were ranked considering demographic factors including gender, marital status, age, educations, years of experience, and profession (civil engineer and architect). Finally, it should be noted that motivation of engineers and architects depends on several factors that must be considered in the design of human resource subsystems such as job analysis, performance appraisal and service compensation, training systems, and promotion to improve performance and increase productivity. In addition, motivation is one of the most important factors affecting personnel retention. Therefore, human resource management experts are advised to provide necessary grounds to increase the motivation of construction industry employees by designing appropriate human resource systems.