Is Your Boss Really Smarter Than You Are? The Influence of the Length of Employment and the Level of Hierarchy on Employee Knowledge about Risk Management

Michael  Schwandt

doi:10.18096/TMP.2015.01.05

Authors

Michael Schwandt University of Miskolc

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18096/TMP.2015.01.05

Keywords:

Risk, Risk Management, Statistical Data Analysis, Construction Industry

Abstract

This research paper deals with knowledge about risk management; in particular, it examines employee knowledge about handling risks in the construction sector. A survey was conducted among personnel working in the construction business; research methodology is based on a standardised questionnaire. Respondents from all levels of hierarchy and with different lengths of employment are compared in order to find out the influence of these factors on know-how and skills. In the second step data was analysed with statistical methods, such as standard deviation or correlation of different variables. As a main result with regard to the length of service, two groups of employees can be distinguished: Employees with less and employees with more than two years in a company. Two years of service form a kind of threshold, up to which the knowledge increases markedly, while after that it only grows at a slower pace. In terms of the level of hierarchy an almost linear trend was observed, confirming that there is a strong relationship between position within the company and knowledge about risk management: The higher the level of hierarchy, the greater the knowledge of the employees.

Author Biography

Michael Schwandt, University of Miskolc

Ph.D student

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