How does psychological capital affect construction workers' proactive safety behavior? The roles of autonomous safety motivation and perceived organizational support

Background The proactive safety behavior of construction workers serves to prevent safety accidents. There is a lack of research on the effects of positive psychology on construction workers' proactive safety behaviors.Objective This study aims to investigate the influence of construction workers' psychological capital on proactive safety behaviors, as well as the mediating effect of autonomous safety motivation and the moderating role of perceived organizational support therein.Methods First, the research hypotheses were formulated and the research model was constructed. Then, a questionnaire survey was conducted on construction workers in China. Finally, 564 valid questionnaire data were analyzed and the hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).Results The findings illustrate that psychological capital positively influences construction workers' proactive safety behavior. Among the sub-dimensions of psychological capital, hope and resilience contributed significantly to proactive safety behavior, while self-efficacy and optimism did not. Additionally, autonomous safety motivation partially mediates the link between psychological capital and proactive safety behavior. In addition, perceived organizational support positively moderates the link between autonomous safety motivation and proactive safety behavior.Conclusions This study clarifies the influence mechanism of psychological capital on construction workers' proactive safety behavior. The results and recommendations can provide insights for promoting proactive safety behaviors among construction workers from a positive psychology perspective.