The job demands-resources model and safety behavior in construction work: a systematic review and meta-analysis of...

Construction workers' safety behavior is central to accident prevention, yet the psychological paths linking work characteristics to safety behavior have not been transparently synthesized in the construction industry.

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the six-path Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and evaluated extreme heat as a possible contextual boundary condition. Following a revision-stage construct and dependency audit, we synthesized 194 zero-order correlations from 63 reports representing 64 independent samples (N = 22,846) with random-effects models.

Job demands were positively associated with strain (r = 0.321), job resources with motivation (r = 0.578), and motivation with safety behavior (r = 0.439). The pooled strain-safety behavior association was small and inconclusive (r = -0.060; I² = 99.0%). The two cross-links were based on few samples and are therefore descriptive only: demands-motivation r = -0.124 (k = 5) and resources-strain r = -0.294 (k = 3). No evidence of heat-proxy subgroup differences was found for resources-motivation (p = 0.628) or motivation-safety behavior (p = 0.463), while demands-strain and strain-safety behavior could not be tested because no eligible high-heat samples remained.

These results indicate insufficient evidence to establish heat moderation, rather than evidence that heat is irrelevant. Most evidence was cross-sectional, and heterogeneity was substantial. Construction managers should strengthen supervisory support, safety climate, and safety motivation while also managing heat exposure directly through exposure monitoring, hydration, shade, and work-rest controls.