ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1659728
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Health and Safety for Productivity in the Construction SectorView all 14 articles
The impact of coworker guanxi on workers' safety behaviors in the construction industry: the effects of team identification, team knowledge sharing, and team safety climate
Provisionally accepted
- Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
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This study explores how coworker guanxi (CG) influences workers' safety behaviors (WSBs) in China's construction industry, focusing on the mediating roles of team identification (TI) and team knowledge sharing (TKS), and the moderating effect of team safety climate (TSC). Based on social exchange theory and previous literature, the research proposes a dual-mediation model to capture the complex interplay between these factors. A survey was conducted with 347 frontline construction workers across three major Chinese cities to test the hypotheses. Latent variable models revealed that CG has a significant positive impact on WSB, both directly (β = 0.115, p < 0.001) and indirectly through TI (indirect effect = 0.216) and TKS (indirect effect = 0.230). The results also showed that TSC moderates the relationship between CG and both TI and TKS, amplifying the positive effects on safety behaviors in construction teams. These findings offer important theoretical contributions by integrating CG into safety behavior research and extending social exchange theory in the context of Chinese construction environments. Additionally, the study provides practical insights for construction managers, suggesting that fostering strong coworker relationships and a positive safety climate can significantly improve safety behaviors, ultimately reducing workplace accidents and enhancing overall safety performance.
Keywords: Coworker guanxi, workers' safety behaviors, team identification, team knowledgesharing, Team safety climate, Construction workers
Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Luo and Li. 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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