The Impact of Social Capital on Construction Safety Climate

Abstract

The importance of safety climate on safety performance in construction has been highly acknowledged, and the definitions and elements of safety climate have been widely discussed over the years. However, researches about how to improve constructions safety climate have been less focused. The aim of this study was to find the impact of social capital on safety climate. A questionnaire of social capital and safety climate was conducted by 316 employees from 45 construction sites, and an empirical analysis was made by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural model theory (SEM). The results showed that: the cognitive dimension and relational dimension of social capital are significantly positive correlation to safety climate, while the structural dimension is not significant. The findings of this study provide useful information to improve safety climate for construction enterprises.

Towards a Multilevel Framework of Teamwork Processes Affecting Construction Safety Outcomes

“…In the construction industry, the significance of SMMs in developing a safety culture has been recognized by Lingard and Blismas [63]. Additionally, as discussed earlier, several studies have investigated the influence of shared understanding, which is similar to SMMs, as a component of social capital on safety performance [49][50][51][52][53]. Mitropoulos and Memarian [3] also incorporated SMMs in their construction teamwork processes model, emphasizing the role of SMMs in enabling coordinated action within dynamic teams.…”

“…They emphasized that team dynamics play a crucial role in construction safety. Li et al [51] applied a structural equation model to examine the impact of social capital on safety climate and found that mutual trust can enhance safety performance. In a subsequent study, Li et al [52] introduced safety competency as a mediating factor between social capital and safety performance and reached a similar conclusion, highlighting the positive effect of mutual trust on safety performance.…”

Determinants for Safety Climate Evaluation of Construction Industry Sites in Saudi Arabia

“…The construction industry is influenced by safety climate in various ways. According to many research studies, maintaining high safety standards is essential at construction sites and the safety climate influences safety performance [5,7,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. A site's safety climate also serves as a safety performance predictor [5,11,15] and encourages employees' behavior toward safety [16][17][18][19], while improving employees' precautionary behavior.…”