Exploring the role of self-determination theory in construction worker safety behavior: A systematic literature review

The construction industry faces significant safety challenges, with unsafe behavior being a leading cause of accidents. Enhancing construction worker safety behavior is critical for addressing these issues. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has emerged as a prominent motivational framework for understanding safety-related behaviors. While the application of SDT within safety-related research has gained traction, its efficacy in predicting construction worker safety behavior has not been comprehensively evaluated. To address this gap, this study systematically reviews existing research that has employed SDT to examine construction worker safety behavior and critically assesses the theoretical constructs’ predictive utility. A systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus database, yielding five studies that met the inclusion criteria. The analysis of these studies revealed notable contextual, methodological, and empirical limitations, underscoring the need for further refinement in this domain. Based on the findings, this paper proposes directions for future research, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal studies, diverse safety outcomes, and cross-cultural validations. A conceptual framework is proposed to illuminate the mechanisms by which leadership influences construction worker safety behavior through motivational pathways, offering a theoretical lens for understanding the interplay between autonomy support, autonomous safety motivation, and safety behavior. This paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms underlying construction worker safety behavior and offers practical insights for enhancing safety behaviors in the construction industry. By integrating SDT with the theory of planned behavior (TPB), it provides a robust framework for leadership-driven strategies to enhance safety performance, aiming to reduce workplace accidents and improve safety outcomes in the construction industry.