How Perceived Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation Affects Construction Workers’ Safety Citizenship Behavior: Organizational Identity and Felt Safety Responsibility as Mediators
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149, Issue 11
Abstract
Perceived leader–member exchange differentiation (PLMXD) refers to the degree to which workers perceive that their exchange relationships with their leaders within a group differ. Although PLMXD has been demonstrated to be critical to project teams’ safety management, there is limited evidence on the relationships between PLMXD and construction workers’ safety citizenship behavior (SCB), including proactive and prosocial safety behavior. Based on leader–member exchange theory and social information processing theory, this study investigates organizational identity and felt safety responsibility as mediating mechanisms that link PLMXD to proactive and prosocial safety behaviors. In total, 320 valid data points were collected from construction workers from six construction projects. The results reveal that PLMXD negatively and indirectly affects proactive safety behavior by reducing organizational identity and felt safety responsibility. Moreover, felt safety responsibility mediates the negative association between PLMXD and prosocial safety behavior. By addressing the research gap in the relationship between PLMXD and SCB, this study enriches the body of knowledge on safety management in the construction industry. The findings extend SCB research by elucidating two distinct processes by which PLMXD affects SCB. By fostering a supportive organizational environment, organizations can empower workers to take proactive safety actions and engage in prosocial safety behavior, ultimately improving overall safety performance on construction sites.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Chongqing Social Science Plan Project (Grant No. 2021BS081), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2022CDSKXYGG006), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.71802030), and the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (Grant No. cstc2021jcyj-msxmX1064), the Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 18YJC630071), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2019CDJSK03XK14).
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 11 • November 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jan 17, 2023
Accepted: Jul 7, 2023
Published online: Aug 31, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 31, 2024
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