Research on the influencing factors of grassroots employees’ safety behavior from the perspective of informal groups in workplace

• Informal group factors can predict employee safety behavior. • Extra-role safety behavior of workers plays a partially mediating role between group cohesion, group infectivity and employee safety behaviors. • Group pressure plays a significant role in moderating the relationship between the demonstration effect of co-workers and the employees’ safety behavior. In order to deeply analyze the way and effect of informal group factors in workplace on the safety behavior of grassroots employees, a conceptual model of the informal group factors influencing the safety behavior of grassroots employees is constructed through theoretical and literature analysis, and the model and hypotheses are empirically tested by structural equation model. The research results show that informal group factors not only influence employee safety behavior directly, but also influence employee safety behavior indirectly through some factors of extra-role safety behavior of co-workers. Besides, extra-role safety behavior of workers plays a partially mediating role between group cohesion, group infectivity and employee safety behaviors. Meanwhile, group pressure plays a significant role in moderating the relationship between the demonstration effect of co-workers and the employees’ safety behavior.