Linking emotion to risk-taking behaviours of construction workers: Appraisal-tendency framework

School of Management Science and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

^* Corresponding author: yegui760404@126.com

Abstract

The reduction of construction accidents contributes to the sustainable development of the construction industry. Risk-taking behaviour of construction workers is an important cause of accidents. Also, discrete negative emotional states, as important psychological factors influencing the risk-taking behaviour, are determinants for controlling accident rate in the construction practice. But there are limited studies on construction safety risk from the appraisal tendencies of emotions. Therefore, this study conducted the classic Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in two behavioural experiments to explore the correlation between emotions and risk behaviours of construction workers. The behavioural results suggested that construction workers in the positive emotion were more prone to take risks than those in the negative emotions, which was in accord with affective generalization hypothesis. Specially in the negative emotions, construction workers with anger and sadness were prone to take risks while workers with disgust and fear to risk aversion. This study made an in-depth analysis of the correlation between different emotions valence (positive and negative) and risk-taking behaviours, with a particular focus on the relationship between the discrete negative emotions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear and sadness) and risk-taking behaviours. Therefore, such findings give insights into appraisal-tendency framework (ATF) in the construction industry.