Ma, L; Guo, H and Fang, Y (2021) Analysis of construction workers' safety behavior based on Myers-Briggs type indicator personality test in a bridge construction project. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(1): 04020149, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The construction industry has high accident rates, and construction workers' unsafe behavior is regarded as a major factor resulting in construction accidents. Behavioral psychology posits that human behavior is driven by psychology, and personality is one of the important psychological characteristics affecting human behavior. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the relationship between the personality and unsafe behavior of construction workers. This research explored the preliminary relationship between the personality type and unsafety behavior of construction workers, and analyzed the differences in safety performance from the perspective of personality types. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used as the personality evaluation method, and a questionnaire was designed and distributed in a bridge construction project in Jiangsu Province, China. A total of 164 responses were collected, and 129 of them were valid. The results showed that (1) most of construction workers had a preference for extraversion (E) (63.6%), sensing (S) (62.8%), thinking (T) (73.6%), and judging (J) (61.3%); (2) ESTJ (24.8%), ESTP (where P is perceiving) (9.3%), ENTJ (where N is intuition) (9.3%), ISTJ (where I is introversion) (7.8%), and INTJ (7.8%) were the five most diverse personality types, exceeding half of the total number of survey; (3) ESTJ and ESFJ (where F is feeling) types of workers had higher average accident losses (3.6 and 4.0, respectively) than those with the other personality types (less than 2.0); and (4) ESTJ and ESFJ types of construction workers had relatively longer safe periods (3-4 and more than 4.0, respectively) as well. These findings will contribute to the body of knowledge in construction safety management, and help targeted construction worker safety training as well as on-site supervision, thus reducing the possibility of worker injury and improving the safety level on site.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accident loss; construction workers; Myers-Briggs type indicator personality; safety behavior; safety period |
| Index terms: | supervision, construction industry, safety training, construction worker, personality, safety behaviour, construction accident, questionnaire, safety performance, intuition, China, bridge construction, body of knowledge, preference, construction safety, psychology, unsafe behaviour, injury, survey, human behaviour |
| Subjects: | practitioner, health behaviours and lifestyles, control systems, data collection methods, knowledge management, financial risk, infrastructure engineering, Geography, decision-making and reasoning, behavioral psychology, environmental health, industry analysis, cognitive psychology, health conditions and diseases, occupational health and safety management |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here