This study develops and tests an integrative model to better understand the mechanisms by which the leadermember exchange (LMX) determines workers’ safety behaviours. The modified theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was proposed by using attitudinal ambivalence to replace univalent safety attitude. Empirical data were collected from 229 construction workers in China using a detailed questionnaire. Both situational and routine safety violations were considered in this model. The results showed that LMX had significant effects on both types of safety violations through three mediators from the modified TPB framework. Specifically, attitudinal ambivalence and group safety norm mediated the relationships between LMX and both types workers’ safety violations. However, perceived behavioural control only mediated the relationship between LMX and individuals’ routine safety violations. Furthermore, this research supported the distinctions between situational and routine safety violations. The indirect effects of LMX on individuals’ situational safety violations took place mainly through group safety norm. By contrast, the indirect effects on individuals’ routine safety violations took place mainly through attitudinal ambivalence and perceived behavioural control. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and future directions were discussed. The results provide some meaningful insights into how to improve safety compliance behaviours from the perspective of supervisor-worker relationships.

Existing studies have highlighted the importance of informal safety communication among workers at construction sites. However, there is still a lack of empirically tested theoretical models with valid and reliable scales for describing and measuring construction workers’ informal safety communication (CWISC). Accordingly, this study aimed to fill this need by developing an instrument to assess the communication performance of construction workers. Four stages of scale development were described: construct formation, item generation, factor extraction through the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n = 219), and scale assessment through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 156). Using questionnaire data drawn from construction workers in China, the CWISC was verified to be a three-dimensional construct including citizenship safety communication (CSC), self-needed safety communication (SSC), and participatory safety communication (PSC). The corresponding CWISC scale with 12 items was shown to have acceptable internal consistency reliability, as well as content, convergent, and discriminant validity. The CWISC scale could serve as an instrument to assess and identify the weaknesses in informal safety communication performance of construction workers. In turn, this information could help supervisors implement appropriate management practices to those workers to enhance workplace informal safety communication. Related studies taking a multidimensional CWISC into account were expected to be carried out.

The western region of Jilin Province is an ecologically fragile area with scarce water resources. The effective allocation of the limited water resources in order to obtain a higher ecological service value is an urgent requirement. In this paper, an interval fuzzy, double-sided chance-constrained, stochastic programming (IFDCP) model was used based on the interconnected river system network project in the western Jilin Province. With the objective of maximizing the value of regional ecological services, the water diversion and supplement schemes were optimized and adjusted. The model results showed that the restored water surface area of all lakes and ponds in the western region of Jilin Province was higher than the initially planned scheme in the high flow year. The water surface area fulfilled the minimum constraints, but did not fulfill the initial scheme in the normal flow year. In the low flow year, the lower limit of some of the regions had to be decreased in order to meet the allocation of the limited water resources. The proportion of floodwater resource utilization gradually increased with an increase in the flood amount. The ecological service value produced in the normal and high flow years was found to be higher than the initial scheme. The marsh wetland can produce higher ecological service value. Therefore, the core of the model optimization was introducing more water to the marsh wetland after fulfilling the basic consumption of ponds and the reed wetland. In addition, the IFDCP model was more flexible in water diversion and supplement as compared to other models that had been developed previously.

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