Purpose: Although research on prefabricated construction has gained increasing attention in recent years, limited efforts have been devoted to investigating safety issues in the off-site manufacture, especially workers’ behavioral intentions to work safely. Thus, research is needed to identify the motivational factors determining off-site construction workers’ safety behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to investigate workers’ safety behavior by examining the determinants of behavioral intention in the off-site manufacturing plants in China. Design/methodology/approach: Theory of planned behavior (TPB) was modified and used in this study to explain how the elements in the hypothesized model interact. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling technique with partial least-squares estimation was used to analyze the data collected. Findings: The findings of this study indicated that workers’ tendency to engage in safety behavior is positively related to attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and behavioral habit, among which attitude toward the behavior and behavioral habit have most significant influences on safety behavior. This finding provides a better explanation on the pathways and the impacts of the crucial factors on the safety behaviors for the off-site manufacture. Originality/value: The possible innovation of this research lies in its attempt to understand the antecedents of workers’ safety behavior in the off-site construction environment, which may make original contributions to construction safety research and practice. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge in TPB. Corresponding countermeasures are put forward in order to improve workers’ safety behavior in off-site construction.

Exposure to various stressors has resulted in a significant problem of mental health among the construction workforce. A culturally intolerant environment may aggravate mental ill health in a multicultural workplace. However, an underlying structural issue that has not been sufficiently addressed to date is the influence the crucial personal characteristics and environmental stressors have on mental health in the multicultural construction environment. This study aims to examine the role of personal characteristics and environmental stressors in construction workers’ mental health in the multicultural environment. Data were collected using an online questionnaire survey from 252 construction workers in Australia. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique with partial least-squares estimation (PLS) was adopted to analyze the data. Results showed that workers’ mental health is not only influenced by stressors related to the work environment, but also by individual traits. Increased levels of cultural stressors tend to aggravate the adverse effect of work stressors on mental health. Work stressors are more likely to cause mental ill health for the individuals characterized by a higher level of aggressive, competitive, ambiguous, and impulsive personalities; whilst cultural stressors are less likely to cause mental ill health for those individuals. This research offers an innovative perspective on the relationships between crucial person-environment factors and mental health, and informs the practice of work health and safety in the multicultural construction workplace.

Construction workers are exposed to a range of stressors that lead to mental ill-health. In a multicultural construction workplace, the interactions between workers with different cultural backgrounds may aggravate mental health issues. Existing studies on coping typically focus on a reactive approach to managing stressors in the absence of cultural-related factors. This approach is inadequate in addressing mental health issues in a culturally diverse construction workplace. This paper presents a critical review that synthesizes and analyses theories and models of stress and coping, proactive coping, occupational stress, acculturative stress, and intercultural competence to develop a conceptual model for managing mental health in a multicultural construction workforce. The proposed model relies upon a positive coping mechanism, i.e., intercultural coping, to manage stressful events during the entire coping process in a multicultural workplace, towards achieving sustained good mental health. The proposed conceptual model contributes to the development of coping theories and positive psychology approaches and provides effective coping strategies to enhance psychological well-being in a multicultural context.

The current construction industry, which has a high accident rate and declining labor productivity, urgently requires efficient and practical management policies. Research has shown that social norms within informal groups have considerable influence on construction workers, while studies on informal groups of construction workers (IGCWs) have been scarce. Current theories of informal groups have not been analyzed in combination with construction industry characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework of IGCWs, including definitions, types, characteristics, causes, and functions. First, on the basis of existing theoretical research of informal groups, two semistructured interviews were designed to collect data from managers and workers. Then, a qualitative approach using grounded theory with NVivo software was employed to code the interview information, and 25 subcategories were obtained: 5 types, 10 characteristics, 4 causes, and 6 functions of IGCWs. Eventually, a conceptual model was established to explain the definition of IGCWs according to the interview data and subcategories identified. This study not only contributes to improving behavioral science theory, especially group behavior theory and human relations theory, but also contributes to constructing an informal group theory of the construction industry. In practical terms, the targeted identification of IGCWs is useful for managers in taking measures to more effectively manage construction workers.

A representativeness heuristic (RH) refers to a shortcut in decision making, one or two subdimensions of which have been found to impact construction workers’ unsafe behaviors prominently. To reduce workers’ reliance on representativeness heuristic effectively, two key questions should be clarified: (1) whether all subdimensions of the representativeness heuristic influence workers’ decision making, and (2) whether such a heuristic is more or less prevalent in certain groups. However, both issues remain unresolved. To fill in these research gaps, the current study collected data using a questionnaire survey from 194 Chinese workers in eight construction projects. After a series of analyses, the results revealed that (1) all subdimensions of the representativeness heuristic had potential to impact construction workers’ decision making; and (2) workers’ reliance on the representativeness heuristic had an initial downtrend followed by an uptrend as age and education level increased, whereas seniority and type of work were not related to this heuristic. The research findings are helpful for safety organizations to manage their diverse workforces. Devoting prevention resources to workers of particular age and education background groups is recommended to reduce the representativeness heuristic and improve the safety performance of construction sites further.