Multidimensional Item Response Theory Analysis of Work-Related, After-Hours Contact, and Psychosocial Measurement Scales for Construction Professionals

Modern communication technology has had a profound influence on the way people work, often resulting in a blurring of the boundaries between work-life and family-life environments through after-hours, work-related contact. Previous studies have explored the associations between job autonomy and control, job pressure, work contact, work-family conflict, psychological distress, and sleep problems. These studies used a variety of measurement scales based on items drawn from the extant literature, but limited psychometric evidence surrounding the use and interpretation of scores derived from these scales has been provided. Given the pivotal role that the measurement of occupational health psychology constructs plays in improving the understanding of occupational health and well-being, this study extends their work by employing multidimensional item response theory (IRT), which has been absent in its application within construction management. Thus, IRT was used to gain empirical insights into the psychometric validity of these scales among construction professionals in South Africa (N=864). Importantly, the IRT analyses show that the scales provided the most precision when used with construction professionals with lower levels of job autonomy and control and job pressure, moderate levels of work contact and work-family conflict, and moderate to high levels of psychological distress and sleep problems. The results extend beyond the classical analyses emanating from previous studies by shedding light on specific item- and scale-level properties. In a redesign, especially for job autonomy and control and job pressure, the addition of more items could reduce the level of measurement error across the continuum on each respective scale. Better measurement of these occupational health constructs will enhance understanding of the well-being of employees and organizations and facilitate appropriate interventions to improve the well-being of construction professionals.