Prefabrication in construction: a pathway to improved mental health and well-being for workers

Purpose Premised on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study is designed to assess the suitability of prefabrication for enhancing mental health and well-being supportive work environment for construction workers. Design/methodology/approach Ninety-four Australian construction workers on either prefabrication or traditional in-situ construction projects were surveyed. Mental health stressors were factor-analysed to reduce them into industry-related, management/organisational, physical health and safety and personal stressors before being further analysed with partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Differences between the traditional and prefabrication models were assessed with multi-group analysis (MGA). Findings The PLS-SEM analysis revealed a significant positive influence of prefabrication (PB) on all measures of well-being except cultural/religious well-being in the prefabrication model. PB also showed significant inverse effects on industry-related stressors (IRS) in the prefabrication model. Furthermore, PB has mediated inverse impact on management/organisational and physical health and safety stressors. The results confirmed well-executed prefabrication as a job resource and its capability to alleviate some construction-specific stressors and improve workers' well-being through better process standardisation and conducive work environment. Originality/value The study concluded by recommending the adoption of prefabrication to complement other mental health supporting programmes to improve the mental health and well-being of construction workers.