The study of the motivation of construction workers is limited to a relatively small body of knowledge. Although there is considerable research available regarding motivation and productivity, few researchers have provided a comprehensive analysis on the motivation of construction workers. The research stated that productivity in construction has not improved compared to other industry sectors such as manufacturing. This trend has been echoed in publications throughout the past five decades, and suggested that motivation is one of the key factors impacting productivity. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the published work that directly links the key words—construction and motivation. The findings have been presented in five themes, that is, motivation models, environment and culture, incentives and empowerment, and worker management. This paper concludes with two methods suggested by previous researchers to improve motivation of construction workers: (1) relevant worker incentives (intrinsic or extrinsic) and (2) improved management practices, specifically regarding communication with workers. 1. Introduction During the past five decades, construction productivity has remained low and has lagged behind other industries [1–5]. Hazeltine [6] offered research from a 1963 study, which noted that an average Canadian construction worker occupied only 55% of his/her work day. Hewage and Ruwanpura [1] echoed this figure based upon a three-year research study with 101 Canadian construction workers. This research reported the actual working time (tool time) of a Canadian construction worker as 51%. These numbers suggested that construction operations may be fundamentally flawed and require significant action for improvement of productivity. Motivation of workers has been suggested as one of the major factors that can stimulate the productivity in the construction industry [1, 7–10]. Thus, the objective of this paper is to review and summarize all the possible literatures related to construction worker motivation in the past four decades. This paper discusses and reviews in depth analysis on worker motivation in the construction industry. It summarizes information under four main areas, that is, (1) definitions of motivation, (2) theories of motivation, and (3) motivational themes in construction. The motivational themes in construction were further discussed under motivational models, work environment/culture, incentives and empowerment, and worker management. 2. Methodology A literature review was initiated to collect peer-reviewed English articles
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