Effect of leader-member exchange on construction worker safety behavior: Safety climate and psychological capital as the mediators

There are ubiquitous binary leader-member exchanges between construction workers and their supervisors. Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been regarded as an antecedent variable of work performance. However, few studies empirically examined the influence pathways of LMX on worker safety behavior, especially in the context of construction industry, thereby reducing its potential to improve construction safety. This study explored the relationship between LMX and construction worker safety behavior (CWSB), while the mediating roles of safety climate (SC) and psychological capital (PC) for the LMX-CWSB relationship and the mediating role of SC for the LMX-PC relationship were also tested. Data were collected from 536 construction workers in China through field survey. The hypothesized model was examined with the structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. Results show that: (a) LMX directly impacted SC and PC, and indirectly affected CWSB through SC and PC, demonstrating LMX’s cascading role on CWSB; (b) SC directly impacted PC and CWSB, and mediated the LMX-PC and LMX-CWSB relationships; and (c) PC positively associated with safety participation behavior (SPB), and mediated the LMX-SPB and SC-SPB relationships. These findings illustrate the complexity of LMX-safety interrelationship and the necessity of initiating both organizational and individual safety interventions simultaneously. This study sheds lights on safety performance research based on the cross-level model. Systematic intervention measures such as cultivating supervisor-worker exchanges and positive safety climate, and enhancing construction workers’ psychological capital are suggested to upgrade construction safety performance.