Work–family conflict, work engagement and unsafe behavior among miners in China

Abstract

The present study aims to explore the relationship between work–family conflict and unsafe behavior among underground coal miners, testing the mediating role of work engagement in this relationship. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Shanxi Province, China from June to August 2020. A total of 580 front-line miners were recruited for this study. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the mechanisms of work–family conflict on unsafe behavior. Findings revealed that time-based conflict, strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict were positively related to unsafe behavior, and work engagement mediated the relationships between work–family conflict and unsafe behavior. Managers should alleviate miners’ work–family conflict, providing effective organizational support to improve the miner's work engagement, and thus reduce their unsafe behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• work–family conflict
• unsafe behavior
• work engagement
• mediating role

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science project [Grant number 22YJC630194; ‘Research on the influence mechanism of psychosocial safety climate on employees’ safety citizenship behavior in high-risk industries’]; Shanxi Province Philosophy and Social Science project [Grant number 2021YY165]; Taiyuan University of Technology Youth foundation [Grant number 2022RS011].