Does a people-oriented safety culture strengthen miners’ rule-following behavior? The role of mine supplies-miners’ needs congruence

Abstract

The construction of a people-oriented safety culture is the key method to strengthen miners’ rule-following behavior (RFB) and decrease the probability of accidents in mines. Beginning with two forms of the inner composition of safety culture, this study dissects the theoretical connotations of espoused and lived safety cultures. Based on the distinction between the types of safety regulatory frameworks, such as intrinsic and extrinsic RFB, we studied previous theories (social exchange theory and person-organization fit theory) and analyzed the role of two forms of safety culture and supplies-needs congruence on miners’ RFB. Using quadratic polynomial regression with response surface analysis, we drew upon a survey of 276 miners in large state-owned coal mines in China to analyze the influence of coal mine espoused safety culture–miners’ needs (ESC–MN) congruence on miners’ RFB and discussed the mediating role of lived safety culture–miners’ needs (LSC–MN) congruence. Our findings demonstrate that coal mine ESC–MN congruence has strong non-linear effects on both intrinsic and extrinsic RFB, and that the mediating role of LSC–MN congruence is strong toward intrinsic, but not toward extrinsic, RFB. Additionally, our study brings up the definition of fit congruence in coal mine ESC–MN and calculates its range of applicability to the actual needs of miners. Based on our research results, we present suggestions for further research on coal mine safety management.