The Impact of Social Capital on Construction Safety Climate

2015 ◽  
Vol 719-720 ◽  
pp. 1251-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Quan Li ◽  
Xiu Yu Wu ◽  
Yue Hui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Construction Safety ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Structural Dimension ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Cognitive Dimension ◽  
Construction Enterprises ◽  
The Impact

The importance of safety climate on safety performance in construction has been highly acknowledged, and the definitions and elements of safety climate have been widely discussed over the years. However, researches about how to improve constructions safety climate have been less focused. The aim of this study was to find the impact of social capital on safety climate. A questionnaire of social capital and safety climate was conducted by 316 employees from 45 construction sites, and an empirical analysis was made by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural model theory (SEM). The results showed that: the cognitive dimension and relational dimension of social capital are significantly positive correlation to safety climate, while the structural dimension is not significant. The findings of this study provide useful information to improve safety climate for construction enterprises.

How closeness matters: the role of geographical proximity in social capital development and knowledge sharing in SMEs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pollawat Chumnangoon ◽  
Anukal Chiralaksanakul ◽  
Asda Chintakananda
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Geographical Distance ◽  
Structural Dimension ◽  
Cognitive Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Capital Development

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impacts of geographical proximity on social capital development through the inter-relationship between three social capital dimensions (structural, relational and cognitive dimension) and the knowledge sharing between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors empirically test a main hypothesis that the mechanism of social capital development that subsequently results in tacit knowledge sharing is different for SME buyer-supplier partners across their different geographical distances. Design/methodology/approach Multiple-group analysis in structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test the research hypotheses using data collected from approximately 200 SMEs in Thailand’s food industry. Findings At a great geographical distance, the structural dimension impacts the cognitive dimension only in an indirect way through a relational dimension, which subsequently leads to knowledge sharing between SME buyer-supplier partners. At close geographical proximity, while the indirect impact of structural dimension on cognitive dimension through a relational dimension is still presented as it is in a great geographical distance, structural dimension has a positive and direct impact on the cognitive dimension as a complementary way to jointly reinforce knowledge sharing between SME partners. Among distant SME partners, the relational dimension shows a stronger impact on the cognitive dimension. In contrast, the direct influence of structural, relational and cognitive dimensions on knowledge sharing is identical, regardless of geographical distance. Practical implications The managers of SMEs can design their network-building approach in such a way that different location partners can enhance knowledge sharing. Policymakers could consider these results as a guideline when imposing SME development policies and geographical cluster policies in emerging economies. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence that demonstrates how geographical proximity between SME partners in an emerging economy influences their social proximity through the lens of social capital development mechanism and thus leads to knowledge sharing between them.

scholarly journals Investigating the Relationships between Safety Climate and Safety Performance Indicators in Retrofitting Works

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Alaa Nadhim ◽  
Carol K.H. Hon ◽  
Bo Xia ◽  
Ian Stewart ◽  
Dongping Fang
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
The Relationship

Retrofitting works has become increasingly important in the construction industry, as it plays an effective role in providing solutions to maintain, upgrade or change the functions to the existing or aged buildings. Very often, safety issues of retrofitting works are underestimated because there may be unreported accidents in small projects and there is no separate classification of accident statistics for the retrofitting works within the construction industry. As safety climate is widely regarded as a contributing factor to safety performance, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting works context. The safety climate questionnaire NOSACQ-50 has been employed to measure safety climate in retrofitting works. Field patrols were undertaken to distribute the safety questionnaires to the local worksites that undertake retrofits in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 264 valid questionnaires were collected. SEM was employed to examine the existence and strength of the relationship between safety climate and safety performance. PLS-SEM was utilised to estimate the parameters of the structural model. The model has exposed a positive relationship between safety climate and safety performance in retrofitting context. This research was the first to examine the relationship between the second order latent variables. A positive relationship (0.60 with 36 percent of explained variance) was found between safety climate and safety performance.

Exploring the family effect on firm performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 898-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosra Mani ◽  
Lassaad Lakhal
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Social Capital Theory ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Cognitive Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how internal social capital – as a part of the familiness resources– affects family firm performance. The social capital theory states that internal social capital within family businesses is composed of three dimensions: the structural dimension, the relational dimension, and the cognitive dimension. The aim of the paper is to study the relationship between each dimension of internal social capital and family firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs an empirical investigation which is based on a sample of 114 Tunisian family firms. Findings – Results demonstrate that the structural and relational dimensions are positively associated with financial and non-financial family firm’s performance. However, the cognitive dimension has a significant positive effect on financial performance but not on non-financial family firm performance. Originality/value – The proposed model aims to test the direct effect of internal social capital dimensions on financial and non-financial family firm’s performance. Besides, there is a lack of empirical evidence aiming at understanding the impact of structural, cognitive and relational social capital on the performance of family firms.

Safety Performance Evaluation of Green Building Based on Structural Equation Modeling

2013 ◽  
Vol 340 ◽  
pp. 150-156
Author(s):  
Liu Xing Hu
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Construction Enterprises ◽  
Production Safety ◽  
The Impact

In order to give a comprehensive and objective evaluation of the work of construction enterprises and production safety, this article is based on the importance of production safety and service quality to explore the impact of construction factor of safety in production of construction enterprises. It uses the KPI theory to construct the four dimensions of management systems, construction equipment, and environmental conditions and other key performance indicators, and studies the structural equation theory to construct the SEM evaluation model, summarizing that the evaluation of the general program with examples from a quantitative point of view of safety performance evaluation. The results showed that the index system was built and SEM performance evaluation model can accurately evaluate the safety performance of the enterprise.

scholarly journals Understanding the Impact of Social Capital on the Innovation Performance of Construction Enterprises: Based on the Mediating Effect of Knowledge Transfer

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5099
Author(s):  
Qing’e Wang ◽  
Luwei Zhao ◽  
Alice Chang-Richards ◽  
Yuanyuan Zhang ◽  
Hujun Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Construction Firms ◽  
Construction Enterprises ◽  
The Impact

In knowledge economy era, enterprise needs to innovate to maintain its advantages and competitiveness. Construction enterprises, being pillars of China’s economy and confronting the challenge brought by the strategy of “going out”, the call for their technology or management innovation was broadly pronounced across practical and academic fields. Social capital (SC), as a resource in a social network, is the basis for creating sustainable competitiveness and advantage for enterprises. The innovative achievements and innovation performance (IP) of enterprises are largely determined by their SC. To achieve competitiveness in the market, enterprises must carry out knowledge transfer (KT) with the other members of their networks. However, few scholars have examined weather SC has any effect on IP in construction enterprises. Using a KT perspective, this paper explored how SC affects the IP of construction enterprises. Based on the literature review and analysis, a conceptual model was constructed and validated using structural equation modeling (SEM). Through empirical analysis, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) SC has a positive impact on the IP of construction enterprises. Among them, the structural dimension (SD) and cognitive dimension (CD) have a significant positive impact on the IP of construction enterprises, while the relational dimension (RD) does not. (2) The SD, CD, and RD of construction enterprises’ SC have a positive influence on KT. (3) There are mediating effects of KT between SC and IP of construction firms, and they are partial. KT plays a partial mediating effect between SD, CD, and IP of construction firms. The research results can not only improve an understanding of effects of SC on IP of construction enterprises, but also validate the importance of KT in stimulating IP.

scholarly journals SYSTEM-DYNAMIC MODELING OF THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON ECONOMIC GROWTH

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
Ivona Milić Beran ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Dynamic Modeling ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
System Dynamic ◽  
Mutual Correlation ◽  
Growth System ◽  
The Impact

This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative system-dynamic modeling of the impact of social capital on economic growth. Social capital is the most problematic of all the concepts that determine progress. On a broad conceptual level, there is agreement about the importance of social capital, which has been used to explain differences in progress among nations with similar natural, human and physical capital. Recent research suggests that it is more important to include an explanation of the interaction of economic actors and their organization when measuring progress than to measure progress without the influence of social capital. The purpose of this paper is to develop a system-dynamic model of the impact of social capital on economic growth that will enable better understanding and management of social capital. In order to build a system dynamics model, the paper will: provide an analysis and overview of social capital and system dynamics; develop a system dynamics structural and mental-verbal model of the impact of social capital on economic growth; and develop a mathematical model of economic growth. This will provide a practical insight into the dynamic behavior of the observed system, i.e., analyzing economic growth and observing the mutual correlation between individual parameters. Keywords: social capital, economic growth, system dynamics, structural model

A resilience safety climate model predicting construction safety performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 434-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuting Chen ◽  
Brenda McCabe ◽  
Douglas Hyatt
Keyword(s):  
Safety Climate ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Construction Safety ◽  
Safety Performance

scholarly journals Applications of drones for safety inspection in the Gulf Cooperation Council construction

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tariq Umar
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Safety ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Safety Improvement ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Important Barrier ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

Purposeconstruction industry in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries is at the peak as the region is in the stage of developing its infrastructures. Apart from some positive sign of this boost, several other issues have also been developed in the region. One of such issues is the safety of workers at the construction sites. This article, based on a variety of applications of drones in other industrial sectors, considers the use of drones for construction safety improvement in the GCC countries. This article aimed to investigate the safety-related applications of drones considering technical features and barriers and enablers for safety-related tasks.Design/methodology/approachA mixed research approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods was adopted to achieve the aims and objectives of this research. Data were collected through a systematic literature review, semistructured interviews and using a structured questionnaire. A total of 37 relevant research items and 10 interviews were held with construction safety professionals, and 92 responses collected from the safety managers through a structured questionnaire was used to derive the conclusion of this research. The collected data were processed and analyzed using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) program. Descriptive analyses were carried out in which means and importance factors were calculated.Findings25.92% of participants confirmed that they or their company had used the drone in different activates. The most common application of drones reported by the respondents was photography for marketing purposes followed by surveying application and quality inspections. The camera movability was the top-rated technical feature required for safety-related inspections. Similarly, “Working near the corner or edge of unprotected opening” was the top-rated application of drone for safety-related tasks. The safety concerns of using drones at job sites were rated as the most important barrier by the participants. Technical challenges associated with the use of drones for safety improvement was rated as the second most important barrier by the participants.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough, the research presented in this article is based on the GCC construction industry, however, since the data collected through systematic review and semistructured interviews are not a regional base, therefore the finding of this research could also be useful in other regions. Further research however, needs to be conducted to reduce the implications of the barriers identified in this paper so that the drone can be effectively used for safety improvement in construction not only in the GCC region but also in other countries.Practical implicationsOnce the GCC construction industry will be able to overcome the challenges associated with the application of drones in safety improvement, the safety managers will be able to monitor the site more effectively which could be helpful to improve the safety performance of the construction organization.Social implicationsImproved safety performance in not only in the greater interest of the construction organizations as they can reduce the costs associated with poor safety but can also avoid the delay caused by construction accidents. Similarly, improved safety performance reduces the accidents at construction sites, and thus reduces injuries and disabilities caused by such accidents, making the construction workers a useful part of the society. The application of drones in safety-related tasks is one of the key solutions that can lead us to improved safety performance.Originality/valueAlthough, the use of drone technology has revolutionized a number of industrial sectors due to its variety of applications, the application in construction particularly in the GCC region is still very limited. As noted in the results of this research, only 21 participants (25.92%) expressed that they or their company had used the drone in different activates. This means that the industry is not getting the full advantage of the available drone technology. The results of this research will enable construction industry stakeholders to know the challenges associated with the application of drones for safety improvement and to develop strategies to overcome these challenges.

A critical analysis of safety performance indicators in construction

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aziz Yousif Shaikh ◽  
Robert Osei‐Kyei ◽  
Mary Hardie
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Safety Climate ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Construction Safety ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Near Miss ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Job Site ◽  
Interest In Research

PurposeSafety performance indicators are a major research concern globally in the construction sector, so this study aims to systematically analyse construction safety performance indicators from some top research publications from 2000 to 2019.Design/methodology/approachSystematic review was performed using Scopus search engine and relevant publications were compiled. Visual and far reaching search in all publications were performed. Final analysis was done to evaluate selected attributes.FindingsThe outcome of the analysis showed growing interest in research on construction safety performance indicators since 2000. From the review, 48 safety performance indicators are identified from 41 selected publications. The most reported safety performance indicators were safety climate, safety orientation, management commitment to safety, near-miss and job site audits. It was noted further that USA, Australia, Canada and China have been international locations of attention for most research on construction safety performance indicators. The 48 safety indicators are classified into six categories, namely people indicators, culture indicators, processes indicators, infrastructure indicators, metrics indicators and technology indicatorsPractical implicationsThe findings identified provide researchers and practitioners a summary of the safety indicators in the construction sector through a vision to streamline future applications and increase the safety performance in the construction sector.Originality/valueA safety performance indicators' list has been established for the adoption of future empirical research. The findings will make a significant contribution to current but limited knowledge on safety performance indicators in construction industry.

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