ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1633467
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Health and Safety for Productivity in the Construction SectorView all 10 articles
The impact of foremen's paternalistic leadership on construction workers' safety behaviors: considering the effects of team safety climate, workers' psychological safety and power distance
Provisionally accepted
- 1Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
- 2Central South University, Changsha, China
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This study investigates how foremen’s paternalistic leadership (FPL) influences construction workers' safety behaviors (WSB) in China, and how team-level and individual-level psychological mechanisms shape this relationship. Drawing on leader–member exchange theory, psychological safety theory, and cultural congruence perspectives, this research proposes a dual-mediation model involving team safety climate (TSC) and workers’ psychological safety (WPS), with power distance (PD) as a moderating variable. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 263 frontline workers across three Chinese cities. Structural equation modeling revealed that FPL significantly enhanced WSB both directly (β = 0.104, p < 0.001) and indirectly through TSC (indirect effect = 0.195) and WPS (indirect effect = 0.204). Multiple regression analysis showed that PD moderated the impact of FPL on both mediators, with stronger associations observed among high-PD individuals. These findings contribute to safety leadership research by contextualizing paternalistic leadership within construction settings. The results also highlight culturally contingent pathways through which leadership affects safety outcomes, offering theoretical insights and practical implications for improving construction site management and training.
Keywords: foremen paternalistic leadership, workers' safety behaviors, Team safety climate, workers' psychological safety, Power distance, Construction workers
Received: 22 May 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Luo, Li and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hujun Li, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
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