Assessment of the Impact of Skills Acquisition on the Productivity of Nigerian Construction Craftsmen.

Abstract

Construction craftsmen performance is one of the crucial aspects of labour productivity that requires proper attention for effective projects delivery in the construction industry. The level of construction craftsmen low performance has been seen to be a significant factor which contributes toward inefficient construction projects productivity. Therefore, the objective of this research is to assess the impact of skills acquisition on the productivity of Nigerian construction craftsmen. A quantitative research methodology was employed in this study via a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to 100 respondents that comprise of 85 craftsmen and 15 trainers in 2 training institutions associated with crafts training. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, standard error and percentages. The finding shows that the skills required of craftsmen to improve productivity can be highly mitigated by factors such as job insecurity/employee turnover resulting from lack of construction jobs or redundancy and these skills acquisition towards productivity can also be driven by consistently engaging these craftsmen which enables them to acquire additional skills by performing multiple tasks. The findings indicate the need to link off-the-job and on-the-job training of craftsmen through the involvement of institutions associated with crafts training.