From Toxicity to Sustainability: Burnout, Psychological Safety and Attrition in the Construction Industry

This study investigates the relationship between toxic workplace culture and voluntary employee turnover, undermining workforce sustainability in Ghana’s construction industry. While some previous research has found a relationship between a toxic working environment and employee withdrawal habits, few studies have investigated the psychological processes between the toxic work culture and employee turnover in Global South construction companies. Based on the theories of Conservation of Resources and Social Exchange, this research examines the possible mediating factors between the toxic work culture and employee turnover: employee burnout, psychological safety, and job dissatisfaction. Structured questionnaires were used to design a quantitative cross-sectional survey, which was administered to 174 construction workers in Ghana. The data were analysed using mediation regression models based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The findings show that a hostile work environment and a lack of organisational support were the two highest dimensions of work culture assessed as negatively impacting employee burnout, psychological safety, and attrition intentions. Employee burnout was the only significant predictor for voluntary employee attrition (β = 0.3628, p < 0.001), and psychological safety had a significant protective effect (β = −0.1785, p = 0.016). Mediation accounted for 67.4% of the variance in attrition outcomes. This paper shows how a negative organisational climate can undermine the stability of human resources, psychological well-being, and the social dimension of sustainability in construction companies. The results indicate that organisational support, leadership accountability and psychologically safe working environments are important for increasing employee retention and long-term organisational resilience.