Identification of Safety-Related Opinion Leaders among Construction Workers: Evidence from Scaffolders of Metro Construction in Wuhan, China

Chaohua Xiong, Kongzheng Liang, HanBin Luo and Ivan W. H. Fung
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Chaohua Xiong: Department of Construction Management, School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
Kongzheng Liang: Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
HanBin Luo: Department of Construction Management, School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China
Ivan W. H. Fung: Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: This study aimed to reveal opinion leaders who could impact their coworkers’ safety-related performance in Chinese construction teams. Questionnaires were distributed to 586 scaffolders in Wuhan to understand their opinions about influencing their coworkers, serving as the foundation for a social network analysis to identify the potential opinion leaders among workers. A further controlled trial with the identified workers was conducted to select real opinion leaders by comparing their influence on others’ safety-related behavior, followed by an association analysis to profile these opinion leaders. Two main sources of opinion leaders were identified: foremen and seasoned workers. Implementing interventions through opinion leaders resulted in better safety-related behavior performance. Furthermore, compared with education level, the association analysis results indicated that one’s practical skills and familiarity with respondents was more important in the formulation of opinion leaders. This research introduces the concept of opinion leaders into construction safety and proposes an approach to identify and validate opinion leaders within a crew, thus providing a tool to improve behavior promotion on sites, as well as a new perspective for viewing interactions among workers.

Keywords: construction safety; scaffolder team; social network analysis; opinion leader; unsafe behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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