Aggregate-level data characteristics of safety climate with different likert-type scales

Abstract

Safety climate is an important construct for determining construction safety. This study aims to examine the validity and reliability of a safety climate scale on the basis of its aggregate-level data characteristics, with the use of 5-, 7-, and 10-point Likert-type scales, and to investigate the influence of the number of response categories on the validity and reliability of a safety climate scale. A total of 104 construction workers participated in this study. Results showed that the mean, variance, and internal consistency reliability of the 5-, 7-, and 10-point Likert-type scales had no considerable difference. Among the three scales, the responses for the 7-point Likert scale tended to be normally distributed. Therefore, this study provides theoretical contributions to the literature on construction industry safety climate and suggests the use of the 7-point Likert scale in measuring safety climate in the construction industry.