The Role of Work Engagement in the Association between Psychological Capital and Safety Citizenship Behavior in Coal Miners: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

With the development of science and technology and the increasing importance attached by to these domains by the state and government departments in recent years, China’s coal production and safety supervision level continue to increase. However, the prevalence of frequent coal mine safety accidents has not been effectively curbed. The main purpose of this study was to explore the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between psychological capital and safety citizenship behavior among Chinese coal miners. Data for 317 coal miners were collected from five coal and energy enterprises. The Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), the Job Engagement Scale (JES), and the Safety Citizenship Behavior Scale (SCBS) were used to evaluate the coal miners’ psychological capital, work engagement, and safety citizenship behavior. The causal steps approach and bootstrap Method were used in this study to assess the proposed mediation models. A correlation analysis indicated that psychological capital, work engagement, and safety citizenship behavior were significantly correlated with each other. Furthermore, the mediation analysis showed that work engagement mediated the relationship between psychological capital and safety citizenship behavior. Psychological capital does not only have a direct impact on coal miners’ safety citizenship behavior, but it also has an indirect impact on coal miners’ safety citizenship behavior via work engagement. Therefore, effectively enhancing an individual’s psychological capital and work engagement may be a basic factor determining coal miners’ safety citizenship behavior, which further promotes safety production within the enterprise.

The Influence Mechanism of Owners’ Safety Management Behavior on Construction Workers’ Safety Citizenship Behavior

“…Work engagement played an intermediary role in the influence of owners’ safety management behavior on construction workers’ SCB. Work engagement also played a mediating role in many studies on proactive behavior, e.g., [ 20 , 28 ]. The results of this study confirmed the mediating role of work engagement in Wilmar’s extended JD-R model [ 62 ].…”

“…One study found that individual characteristics and psychological and organizational factors have an impact on the SCB of construction workers [ 18 ]. Previous studies on SCB mostly considered employee personality and psychological factors [ 19 , 20 ]. One study conducted research from an organizational perspective, including the organization’s safety atmosphere and level of support [ 21 ], while other studies considered the impact of leadership [ 22 , 23 ].…”

Association of psychological symptoms with job burnout and occupational stress among coal miners in Xinjiang, China: A cross-sectional study

“…This study showed that higher levels of occupational stress and burnout were associated with increased detection of positive psychological symptoms in coal miners. Poor mental health status is associated with the unsafe behaviors of coal miners and has a predictive effect on the occurrence of coal mine accidents ( 50 ). Consequently, this study provides the data support and intervention direction for coal mine management enterprises to pay attention to the psychological health of coal miners, which is also significant in improving the occupational life quality of coal miners and ensuring the safety production of coal mining enterprises.…”