Scale Equivalence in Canada and the United States for Interpersonal Conflicts at Work and Individual Resilience in the Construction Sector

Interpersonal conflicts at work (ICW) and individual resilience (IR) that describes a person's positive psychological capacity for performance improvement have the potential to affect construction safety performance. However, few research has been conducted to investigate these two factors on construction sites, e.g., how often ICW occurs on construction sites and whether the occurrence frequency is distributed similarly across countries. It is also necessary to examine whether workers from different countries interpret ICW and IR conceptually similar, which is a precondition for any comparison. By surveying 420 US construction workers and 837 Canadian construction workers, this study conducted measurement equivalence tests and compared the frequency of ICW on the surveyed construction sites. The results show that US and Canadian construction workers interpreted ICW and IR conceptually similar, although with different demographic background. In addition, US respondents reported fewer conflicts with their supervisors, which may be related to the slightly higher age, lower participation in safety committees, and fewer supervisors on site.