The psychological contract: A missing link between safety climate and safety behaviour on construction sites

•Adding value to management research for improving safety on construction sites.•Use of a psychological contract of safety model to influence safety behaviour.•Structural Equation Modelling to validate psychological contract of safety model.•Empirical data collected from a mega construction project.•Relationships examined between safety climate factors and psychological contact. The relationship between safety climate and safety behaviour is well established in construction, however, the way safety plans and actions of top management translate to the workforce is still unclear. Considering the influence of supervisors’ behaviour on workers’ safety behaviour and conceptualizing safety through the lens of the ‘Psychological Contract’ (PC), it is argued that ‘Psychological Contract of Safety’ (PCS), could be a vital factor to explain how workers attach meaning to supervisor behaviour at construction sites and prioritise safety issues. Previous research suggests that (1): safety climate is based on perception of workers regarding safety and (2): PCS is based on perceived mutual obligations between workers and supervisors. As a result, if PCS or mutual obligations between workers and supervisors are fulfilled, then safety behaviour of the workers will be positively influenced. A model depicting the PCS as an alternative intervention in understanding how safety climate factors influence workers’ safety behaviour is presented. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) the model of the PCS is validated. The model explains how construction safety is influenced by the mutual safety obligations between supervisor and workers.