Violation with concerns of safety: A study on non-compliant behavior and the antecedent and consequent effects in power grid construction

Abstract

Non-compliant behaviors have been indicated to be leading indicators of accidents in workplaces. Though most studies treat intentional non-compliant behavior or violations as monolithic indicators for adverse safety performance, non-compliant behaviors might take different forms with distinct motives and outcomes. To examine and compare the effects of different forms of non-compliant safety behavior, we proposed a construct of risk-adjusted non-compliant behavior, which refers to employees' deliberate deviation from safety rules while considering safety concerns and adjusting their behavior accordingly, and investigated the differential antecedent effects by contextual factors and consequential effects on safety outcomes. By a sample of 390 workers and their supervisors in a power grid construction firm, the results of our study indicated that safety climate and transformational leadership were positively associated with safety compliance and negatively associated with violation by multi-level analyses. However, active transactional leadership also had a positive association with risk-adjusted non-compliant behavior, and this association was moderated by safety climate such that the relationship was stronger in higher level of safety climate. Furthermore, although risk-adjusted non-compliant behavior did not significantly affect penalties for deviance compared to violation behavior, it increased the workers' risk perception of hazard. The implications of these findings for theory were discussed.