Cross-Regional Research in Demographic Impact on Safety Consciousness and Safety Citizenship Behavior of Construction Workers: A Comparative Study between Mainland China and Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: The construction industry has rapidly developed with the continuous prosperity in Hong Kong and Mainland China, though accidents still occur with unacceptable frequency and severity. For promoting the safety issue of workers in construction industry, safety citizenship behavior (SCB) and safety consciousness (SC) were considered two influential constructs and further studied with integration of sociodemographic theories by scholars. However, no study has compared the SC and SCB of construction workers in terms of the demographic influence between Mainland China and Hong Kong. Methods: To fill this research gap, this study investigated the territorial difference between these two regions by conducting a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with recruitment of 253 Mainland construction workers and 256 Hong Kong construction workers. Results: Significant similarities and differences of SC and SCB performance were revealed in terms of the workers with different genders, education levels, weekly working hours, and ages. Conclusions: This study provides insights into the comparison of demographic influence on SC and SCB of construction workers between Hong Kong and Mainland China, which is unique as it can yield useful managerial knowledge relevant to the personal safety of targeted groups of construction workers with particular demographic characteristic in both regions and contribute the implementation of safety interventions in line with the specific distinction in territorial aspect.