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Behavioral modeling using the theory of planned behavior identifies psychological and organizational drivers of safety actions. This mining approach enhances proactive safety culture and reduces accident risks.
Study: Influencing mechanism of miners’ safety citizenship behavior from the perspective of the theory of planned behavior. Image Credit: Parilov/Shutterstock
In a recent article published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers investigated the factors influencing miners’ safety citizenship behavior in China by applying the theory of planned behavior and incorporating context-specific variables such as safety capability, safety values, sense of safety responsibility, and organizational safety climate.
Theoretical Framework: TPB & Contextual Factors
Coal mining remains one of China’s most hazardous industries, with unsafe worker behavior contributing significantly to accidents and fatalities reported in 2022–2023. This study examines miners’ safety citizenship behavior (SCB), which includes proactive and voluntary actions that improve team and organizational safety beyond basic rule compliance. Enhancing SCB is essential for reducing accidents, strengthening safety management, and protecting miners in high-risk underground environments.
The study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which explains behavior in terms of behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. While prior safety research has focused mainly on compliance in sectors such as construction and aviation, mining-specific SCB remains underexplored.
To address this gap, the authors incorporate contextual factors unique to underground mining, including safety capability, safety values, sense of safety responsibility, and organizational safety climate. These factors shape TPB variables and collectively influence miners’ intentions and proactive safety behaviors in complex and hazardous working conditions.
Survey Design and Stratified Sampling
The study employed a structured quantitative approach to investigate the factors influencing miners' safety citizenship behavior (SCB) through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Data were collected using a carefully developed questionnaire designed to measure multiple constructs such as behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, safety citizenship behavioral intention, actual safety citizenship behavior, safety capability, safety values, sense of safety responsibility, and organizational safety climate.
The instrument adopted a five-point Likert scale ranging from strong disagreement to strong agreement to quantify respondents’ perceptions and intentions. To ensure a representative sample, the researchers used stratified random sampling, focusing on three major mining provinces in China: Shanxi, Sichuan, and Anhui.
These regions were selected to cover various types of coal mining operations and diverse geological conditions, thus capturing a broad spectrum of miners' experiences and safety perspectives. Within each province, representative mines were randomly chosen, and miners within these mines were further randomly sampled to participate. The survey was administered online, with miners giving informed consent before participation.
Out of 1,651 distributed questionnaires, 1,334 valid responses were retained after removing incomplete or invalid data, yielding a high response rate of over 80%. Data analysis involved structural equation modeling (SEM) to test hypothesized relationships and evaluate the influence of several personal and organizational factors on SCB.
Multivariate statistical methods and multigroup analyses were also used to explore differences across regional groups, specifically assessing variations in the effect of perceived behavioral control on behavior.
Empirical Findings on SCB Determinants
The SEM results demonstrated strong support for the TPB-based model tailored to mining contexts. Personal factors such as miners’ safety capabilities and values positively influenced behavioral attitudes, while a strong sense of safety responsibility was linked to subjective norms, reflecting social pressures and expected work-group behavior.
The organizational safety climate significantly influenced miners’ perceived control over safety-related actions. As hypothesized, behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control positively predicted miners’ safety citizenship intentions, which in turn corresponded to actual safety behaviors underground. Additionally, perceived behavioral control is directly linked to behavior, affirming its critical role.
Interestingly, regional differences emerged: in Sichuan mines, characterized by smaller scale and stricter operational constraints, perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict safety behavior. This suggests that in more rigid environments, miners have limited autonomy, and safety actions depend more on institutionalized procedures than personal perceptions of control. The discussion emphasizes the complexity of translating safety intentions into practice, influenced by organizational settings and team dynamics.
These findings highlight the importance of integrating psychological and organizational factors in mining safety strategies. Strengthening miners’ skills, embedding a strong safety culture, and fostering a sense of responsibility can enhance both individual attitudes and social norms toward safety. Furthermore, improving operational conditions and organizational support can increase miners’ perceived behavioral control, crucial for proactive safety engagement.
Implications for Mining Safety Management
This study provides novel empirical insights into the formation of miners’ safety citizenship behaviors using an extended theory of planned behavior framework. It confirms that miners’ safety capabilities and values shape attitudes, that a sense of safety responsibility influences social norms, and that the organizational safety climate enhances perceived control, thereby driving safety citizenship intentions and behaviors underground.
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Recognizing the influence of local operational contexts is critical for tailoring effective safety programs. Limitations include the use of self-report questionnaires and geographic sampling constraints, but the study sets a foundation for future research further to refine occupational safety interventions in high-risk mining environments.
Journal Reference
Yang J., Fang J., et al. (2026). Influencing mechanism of miners’ safety citizenship behavior from the perspective of the theory of planned behavior. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-50086-0, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-50086-0