IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rnd/arimbr/v15y2023i2p116-127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Foreign Labor on Labor Productivity in Construction Industries

Author

Listed:
  • Saffiah Mohd Nor
  • Geetha Subramaniam
  • Zahariah Sahudin

Abstract

The focus of this study is the demand for foreign labor in the construction industry. While labor productivity contributes significantly to the economic growth of the country but the trend has decreased over recent years. Hence, this paper aims to identify whether the increase in the labor force or other factor inputs contributes significantly to the labor capacity of construction projects in Malaysia. Results show the relationship between labor and other factors related to employment productivity in the construction industry of Malaysia from the year of 1986 to 2020. Factor inputs consist of variables such as capital, local labor, and foreign labor. The research objective is to identify the effects of labor force and other factor inputs on labor productivity. This study employs the Cobb-Douglas production function. The findings show that there is a significant relationship whereby the financial assets have a significant relationship, whilst the local and foreign workforce has a negative relationship in terms of their impact on labor productivity. These findings provide some scientific evidence for improving the project performance of the construction industry in Malaysia. It will be useful in identifying which factor inputs have a huge impact on construction labor productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Saffiah Mohd Nor & Geetha Subramaniam & Zahariah Sahudin, 2023. "The Effects of Foreign Labor on Labor Productivity in Construction Industries," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(2), pages 116-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:rnd:arimbr:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:116-127
    DOI: 10.22610/imbr.v15i2(I)SI.3426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr/article/view/3426/2177
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr/article/view/3426
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22610/imbr.v15i2(I)SI.3426?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saffiah Mohd Nor & Zahariah Sahudin & Geetha Subramaniam, 2023. "The Effects of Health, Labor and Capital towards Labor Productivity in Manufacturing Industries," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(1), pages 121-130.
    2. Sea Jin Chang & Harbir Singh, 1999. "The impact of modes of entry and resource fit on modes of exit by multibusiness firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(11), pages 1019-1035, November.
    3. Nikiforakis, Nikos & Oechssler, Jörg & Shah, Anwar, 2019. "Managerial bonuses and subordinate mistreatment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 509-525.
    4. repec:dau:papers:123456789/15229 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Bachtiar, Nasri & Fahmy, Rahmi & Ismail, Rahmah, 2015. "The Demand for Foreign Workers in the Manufacturing Sector in Malaysia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 49(2), pages 135-147.
    6. Fah Choy Chia & Martin Skitmore & Goran Runeson & Adrian Bridge, 2014. "Economic development and construction productivity in Malaysia," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(9), pages 874-887, September.
    7. Weng-Tat Hui & Aamir Rafique Hashmi, 2007. "Foreign Labor And Economic Growth Policy Options For Singapore," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 52(01), pages 53-72.
    8. Rahmah Ismail, 2015. "Impact of foreign workers on labour productivity: analysis of firm level data," International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 16(1), pages 36-53.
    9. Helen Lingard, 2013. "Occupational health and safety in the construction industry," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 505-514, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saffiah Mohd Nor & Zahariah Sahudin & Geetha Subramaniam, 2023. "The Effects of Health, Labor and Capital towards Labor Productivity in Manufacturing Industries," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(1), pages 121-130.
    2. Luis E. Davila & Vijay S. Sampath, 2018. "Determinants of MNEs' Natural Resources Endowments on Performance: An Analytical Model," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(7), pages 35-45, July.
    3. Zsolt Csáfordi & László Lőrincz & Balázs Lengyel & Károly Miklós Kiss, 2020. "Productivity spillovers through labor flows: productivity gap, multinational experience and industry relatedness," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 86-121, February.
    4. Wen Yi & Albert Chan, 2016. "Health Profile of Construction Workers in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Zsolt Csafordi & Laszlo Lorincz & Balazs Lengyel & Karoly Miklos Kiss, 2016. "Productivity spillovers through labor flows: The effect of productivity gap, foreign-owned firms, and skill-relatedness," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1610, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    6. Wen-Hsin Huang & Yen-Ju Lin & Hsien-Feng Lee, 2019. "Impact of Population and Workforce Aging on Economic Growth: Case Study of Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-13, November.
    7. Fathallah, Ramzi & Branzei, Oana & Schaan, Jean-Louis, 2018. "No place like home? How EMNCs from hyper turbulent contexts internationalize by sequentially arbitraging rents, values, and scales abroad," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 620-631.
    8. Brown, T. & Panibratov, A., 2016. "Foreign divestment decisions: A theoretical framework," Working Papers 6450, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
    9. Reza Kiani Mavi & Denise Gengatharen & Neda Kiani Mavi & Richard Hughes & Alistair Campbell & Ross Yates, 2021. "Sustainability in Construction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-24, February.
    10. Nihan Yıldırım & Derya Gultekin & Doğan Tilkici & Dilek Ay, 2022. "An Institutional System Proposal for Advanced Occupational Safety and Labor Standards in the Turkish Construction Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-31, November.
    11. Maurizio Zollo & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2001. "Experience Spillovers across Corporate Development Activities," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-35, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. Matthew R. Hallowell & Dillon Alexander & John A. Gambatese, 2017. "Energy-based safety risk assessment: does magnitude and intensity of energy predict injury severity?," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1-2), pages 64-77, February.
    13. Belderbos, René & De Michiel, Federico & Sleuwaegen, Leo & Wu, Shubin, 2021. "Global market integration, efficiency orientation, and drivers of foreign subsidiary divestments," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    14. Alonso-Borrego, César & Forcadell, Francisco Javier, 2010. "Related diversification and R&D intensity dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 537-548, May.
    15. Cabaleiro, Goretti, 2019. "Sources of appropriation capacity in licensing agreements," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 86, pages 48-61.
    16. Pathak, Seemantini & Chiu, Shih-Chi (Sana), 2020. "Firm-advisor ties and financial performance in the context of corporate divestiture," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 315-328.
    17. Viacheslav Iurkov & Gabriel R G Benito, 2020. "Change in domestic network centrality, uncertainty, and the foreign divestment decisions of firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(5), pages 788-812, July.
    18. Jeppe Z. N. Ajslev & Jeppe L. Møller & Malene F. Andersen & Payam Pirzadeh & Helen Lingard, 2022. "The Hierarchy of Controls as an Approach to Visualize the Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Coordination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, February.
    19. Rodolphe Durand & Jean-Philippe Vergne, 2015. "Asset divestment as a response to media attacks in stigmatized industries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1205-1223, August.
    20. Wu, Yan & Strange, Roger & Shirodkar, Vikrant, 2021. "MNE divestments of foreign affiliates: Does the strategic role of the affiliate have an impact?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 266-278.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rnd:arimbr:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:116-127. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Muhammad Tayyab (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/imbr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.