Abstract
ObjectivesConstruction is one of the unsafe industrial sectors, causing a considerable amount of harm to its workforce and organizations globally. Only a handful of research evidence has been found evaluating individuals' cognitive and engagement-related constructs to improve occupational safety. Psychological Capital (PsyCap) can have a promising impact on construction workers' psychological health, possibly leading to positive performance. Limited studies have tested PsyCap and work engagement regarding safety specifically in the context of the construction industry, with non-harmonious findings.MethodsThe proposed framework was assessed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique along with bootstrapping for mediation analysis. Responses were collected from different states of Malaysia from 345 construction workers. PsyCap dimensions (hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism) were measured in connection with safety compliance and safety participation, with the mediating role of work engagement.ResultsAccording to findings, hope, optimism, and work engagement have a positive and significant impact on safety compliance. Also, hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism, and work engagement have a positive and significant impact on safety participation. Further, self-efficacy and optimism both have a positive impact on work engagement.ConclusionsPsyCap can be a possible predictor for work engagement, which may enhance safety-related behavior. PsyCap should be treated as a multidimensional instrument to enhance occupational safety. In-depth deliberation is needed by the organization while applying PsyCap to enhance employees' work engagement as well as safety behavior. Practical interventions based on interactive training are proposed to enhance construction industry safety. Other industries can also adapt suitable dimension(s) of PsyCap to safety behavior improvements.
Highlights
Occupational health and safety issues are an utmost concern for every industry in today’s complex and demanding work environments
We propose that work engagement will positively mediate the safety behavior of construction workers through the following hypotheses: H13 Work Engagement is positively associated with safety compliance
Our results suggest that hope, optimism, and work engagement have a significant and positive impact on both safety compliance and safety participation
Summary
Occupational health and safety issues are an utmost concern for every industry in today’s complex and demanding work environments. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics [3], around 1,102 fatalities were recorded in the construction industry, only in the year 2019 with an injury rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time workers, which is quite worrying. Talking about the Malaysian construction industry, there were around 616 deaths reported from the year 2015 to 2020 only out of 2,000+ officially reported cases, which is a point of great concern for this sector [4]. The occupational health condition in Malaysia’s construction industry is not exceptional in contrast to worldwide occupational accident data, since this sector is reaching high heights even globally [5–7]. The surge in occupational accidents in the construction industry stimulates researchers and academics to offer and evaluate new views, with a particular focus on employee safety behavior. Human behavior is responsible for around 80% of occupational accidents, making it the most prevalent causal factor [8–10]
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