Study finds parallel links between safety management and construction performance

A cross-sectional study of construction professionals in the Caraga Region of the Philippines found that occupational health and safety management was associated with work performance through two parallel statistical pathways involving talent management and work motivation. The findings, based on questionnaire responses from 350 participants, showed strong associations between safety management and each of these two workplace factors.

Researchers examined whether talent management and work motivation linked occupational health and safety management to work performance, or whether the factors instead represented a sequential pathway in which talent management influenced motivation. The analysis used hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling, with weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted estimation for ordered indicators.

The final model fit the questionnaire data exceptionally well, with a comparative fit index of 0.997, a Tucker-Lewson index of 0.997, a root mean square error of approximation of 0.008 and a standardized root mean square residual of 0.044. The researchers also reassessed the indirect associations using 5,000 bootstrap resamples.

Occupational health and safety management had a positive standardized association with talent management, with a coefficient of 0.450, and with work motivation, at 0.478. It was also directly associated with work performance, with a coefficient of 0.372. These results indicate that stronger safety-management practices were linked in the statistical model to better-developed workforce practices, greater motivation and higher reported performance.

The proposed sequential relationship was not supported. The association between talent management and work motivation was negligible and statistically unsupported, with a coefficient of 0.013 and a p-value of 0.839. The results therefore favored two parallel pathways connecting occupational health and safety management to performance: one through talent management and another through work motivation.

The study focused on construction professionals in one Philippine region, where changing worksites, evolving hazards and project-based employment can complicate the coordination of safety, employee development and performance. Its design offers region-specific evidence for considering safety management and workforce development as connected areas of organizational practice rather than treating them as isolated priorities.

Because the research was cross-sectional and relied on questionnaire data, the coefficients describe associations rather than establishing that safety management caused changes in motivation, talent management or performance. The authors also note that temporal ordering remains unresolved. Future research should use longitudinal, multilevel designs and objective performance measures to test whether the proposed relationships persist over time and across organizational settings.

Overall, the results suggest that supporting talent and motivation may be relevant alongside occupational health and safety systems in construction environments. The evidence does not demonstrate a universal effect or a clinical benefit, but it identifies a tightly fitted regional model in which the two workplace factors are distinct parallel statistical pathways linking safety-management practices with construction work performance.

Subject of Research: Associations among occupational safety management, talent management, work motivation and performance in Philippine construction professionals

Article Title: Talent management and work motivation as mediators between Occupational Health and Safety Management and work performance among construction professionals in the Caraga Region, Philippines

Article References: Gloria, J. V. (2026). Talent management and work motivation as mediators between Occupational Health and Safety Management and work performance among construction professionals in the Caraga Region, Philippines. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04603-w

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04603-w

Keywords: occupational safety, construction work, work performance, talent management, work motivation, structural equation modeling, Philippines, Caraga Region, workplace health, Talent, management, work