Safety leadership, participation, and knowledge sharing: catalysts for safety compliance

Purpose The construction industry is one of the most injury-prone industries where workers’ safety has always been a prime concern of stakeholders. However, the postpandemic scenario aggravated the need for workers’ health-related safety along with physical safety among construction workers. This study aims to understand the role of safety leadership behavior in promoting compliance behavior among construction project workers in the light of social learning theory. In addition, the authors examined the underlying behavioral mechanism between safety leadership and workers’ compliance behavior through knowledge sharing and safety participation. Design/methodology/approach Time-lagged data with a four-week interval was collected from 237 building construction engineers during the phase when the construction projects were pacing out in Pakistan. The data was later analyzed after achieving the model fit. Findings This study found that safety leadership has a positive and direct influence on construction workers’ safety compliance (β = 0.35, p = 0.003), as well as on knowledge sharing (β = 0.67, p = 0.000) and safety participation (β = 0.80, p = 0.000). The parallel mediation results indicate that safety participation (β = 0.31, p = 0.000) and knowledge sharing (β = 0.21, p = 0.001) positively mediate the relationship between safety leadership and compliance behavior. Originality/value This study’s contributions lie in three main areas: highlighting occupational safety concerns in the construction industry, especially in developing economies; focusing on developing cost-effective safety solutions by improving employee safety as an internal factor; and extending social learning theory by exploring the impact of safety participation and knowledge-sharing behaviors on workers. This research aims to provide practical solutions and enhance understanding of the human factors influencing safety in construction projects, ultimately leading to improved project outcomes and worker well-being.