The emotional equation: how psychosocial support boosts safety practices in the context of construction 5.0

Background Construction 5.0, which emphasizes human-centric technologies and improved collaboration between humans and machines in intelligent construction ecosystems, introduces distinct safety management challenges that necessitate effective emotional resource allocation strategies. This study utilizes job demands-resources theory to investigate how emotional resources are allocated for safety management by examining the relationships among safety practice, psychosocial support, safety participation, and leadership safety behavior. Methods A face-to-face questionnaire survey was conducted with front-line construction workers involved in Construction 5.0 projects, yielding 118 valid responses. The data were analyzed using linear regression models and the bootstrap method. Results The findings reveal that: (1) psychosocial support positively influences both safety participation and safety practices; (2) safety participation enhances safety practices; (3) safety participation fully mediates the effect of psychosocial support on safety practices; and (4) leadership safety behavior positively moderates the relationship between safety participation and safety practices. Conclusion This study extends the job demands-resources framework by illustrating the flow of emotional resources in the context of Construction 5.0, thereby highlighting the principles of multi-level emotional resources in the relationship between emotion and safety. Practically, this framework allows for the evolution of human-centric safety measures in tandem with advanced technology-enabled work environments, while also maintaining psychosocial balance in intelligent construction ecosystems.