People as interconnected beings: the impact of leader and colleague safety consciousness on employee safety performance from the perspective of social interaction

Safety performance, a critical metric directly linked to employees’ well-being and property protection, serves as a cornerstone in advancing modern productive forces. Grounded in social interaction theory, this study employed a survey-based method and hierarchical regression analysis to explore the mechanism of how leader and colleague safety consciousness affect employee safety performance. Analyzing survey data from 535 questionnaires, the following research results were obtained: leader and colleague safety consciousness has a positive impact on employee safety performance; safety role identification plays a positive mediating role between leader and colleague safety consciousness and employee safety performance; the leader–member exchange relationship positively moderates the relationship between leader safety consciousness and safety role identification, and positively moderates the mediating role of safety role identification; and the team–member exchange relationship positively moderates the relationship between colleague safety consciousness and safety role identification, and positively moderates the mediating role of safety role identification.