A multilevel model of safety climate: cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates

Organizational climates have been investigated separately at organization and subunit levels. This article tests a multilevel model of safety climate, covering both levels of analysis. Results indicate that organization-level and group-level climates are globally aligned, and the effect of organization climate on safety behavior is fully mediated by group climate level. However, the data also revealed meaningful group-level variation in a single organization, attributable to supervisory discretion in implementing formal procedures associated with competing demands like safety versus productivity. Variables that limit supervisory discretion (i.e., organization climate strength and procedural formalization) reduce both between-groups climate variation and within-group variability (i.e., increased group climate strength), although effect sizes were smaller than those associated with cross-level climate relationships. Implications for climate theory are discussed.     

Assessing group-level participation in fluid teams: testing a new metric

Participation is an important factor in team success. We propose a new metric of participation equality that provides an unbiased estimate across groups of different sizes and across those that change size over time. Using 11 h of transcribed utterances from informal, fluid, colocated workgroup meetings, we compared the associations of this metric with coded equality of participation and standard deviation. While coded participation and our metric had similar patterns of findings, standard deviation had a somewhat different pattern, suggesting that it might lead to incorrect assessments with fluid teams. Exploratory analyses suggest that, as compared with mixed-age/status groups, groups of younger faculty had more equal participation and that the presence of negative affect words was associated with more dominated participation. Future research can take advantage of this new metric to further theory on team processes in both face-to-face and distributed settings.     

Organizational injury rate underreporting: the moderating effect of organizational safety climate

The goals of this study were (a) to assess the extent to which construction industry workplace injuries and illness are underreported, and (b) to determine whether safety climate predicts the extent of such underreporting. Data from 1,390 employees of 38 companies contracted to work at a large construction site in the northwestern United States were collected to assess the safety climate of the companies. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs kept by the contractors allowed for calculation of each company's OSHA recordable injury rate (i.e., the reported injury rate), whereas medical claims data from an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program provided the actual experienced rate of injuries for those same companies. While the annual injury rate reported to OSHA was 3.11 injuries per 100 workers, the rate of eligible injuries that were not reported to OSHA was 10.90 injuries per 100 employees. Further, organizations with a poor safety climate had significantly higher rates of underreporting (81% of eligible injuries unreported) compared with organizations with a positive safety climate (47% of eligible injuries unreported). Implications for organizations and the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics's national occupational injury and illness surveillance system are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

A study of the lagged relationships among safety climate, safety motivation, safety behavior, and accidents at the individual and group levels

The authors measured perceptions of safety climate, motivation, and behavior at 2 time points and linked them to prior and subsequent levels of accidents over a 5-year period. A series of analyses examined the effects of top-down and bottom-up processes operating simultaneously over time. In terms of top-down effects, average levels of safety climate within groups at 1 point in time predicted subsequent changes in individual safety motivation. Individual safety motivation, in turn, was associated with subsequent changes in self-reported safety behavior. In terms of bottom-up effects, improvements in the average level of safety behavior within groups were associated with a subsequent reduction in accidents at the group level. The results contribute to an understanding of the factors influencing workplace safety and the levels and lags at which these effects operate.     

An integrative model of safety climate: Linking psychological climate and work attitudes to individual safety outcomes using meta‐analysis

Meta‐analytic path analysis was utilised to test an integrative model linking perceived safety climate to hypothesized organisational antecedents and individual outcomes. Psychological climate, especially the perception of organisational attributes, was found to be significantly associated with safety climate (both constructs measured at the individual level). A partial mediation model was supported. Within this model, the relationship between safety climate and safety behaviour was partially mediated by work‐related attitudes (organisational commitment and job satisfaction), and the relationship between safety climate and occupational accidents was partially mediated by both safety behaviour and general health. Safety climate acted as a partial mediator in the relationship between psychological climate and safety behaviour, with direct effects from climate perceptions relating to the leader and organisational processes. Avenues for further research and practical implications are discussed.     

Team change climate: A group-level analysis of the relationships among change information and change participation,role stressors,and well-being

We explored whether teams develop shared perceptions regarding the quantity and quality of information and the extent of participation in decision making provided in an environment of continuous change. In addition, we examined whether change climate strength moderated relationships between change climate level and team outcomes. We examined relationships among aggregated change information and change participation and aggregated team outcomes, including two role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role overload) and two indicators of well-being (i.e., quality of worklife and distress). Questionnaires were distributed in an Australian law enforcement agency and data were used from 178 teams. Structural equation modelling analyses, controlling for a marker variable, were conducted to examine the main effects of aggregated change information and aggregated change participation on aggregated team outcomes. Results provided support for a model that included method effects due to a marker variable. In this model, change information climate was significantly negatively associated with role ambiguity, role overload, and distress, and significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change participation climate was significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change climate strength did not moderate relationships among change climate level and team outcomes.     

A note on testing for homogeneity among effect sizes sharing a common control group

L. V. Hedges and I. Olkin (1985) presented a statistic to test for homogeneity among correlated effect sizes and L. J. Gleser and I. Olkin (1994) presented a large-sample approximation to the covariance matrix of the correlated effect sizes. This article presents a more exact expression for this covariance matrix, assuming normally distributed data but not large samples, for the situation where effect sizes are correlated because a single control group was compared with more than one treatment group. After the correlation between effect sizes has been estimated, the standard Q statistic for correlated effect sizes can be used to test for homogeneity. This method is illustrated using results from schizophrenia research.     

Exploring the effect of testing on forgetting in vocabulary learning: an examination of the bifurcation model

ABSTRACT

Research on the testing effect demonstrated a stronger decrease in performance for repeated studying compared to repeated testing. The bifurcation model attributes this test-delay interaction to different distributions of item memory strength. The present study tested the assumptions of the bifurcation model for learning foreign language vocabulary. We hypothesised an elimination or reduction of the interaction in a test/feedback condition because feedback prevents the bifurcation of item memory strength. Our experiment based on a 3 (Learning Method within: Test, test/feedback, copy)?×?3 (Retention Interval between: Immediate, 1-week, 2-weeks) mixed factorial design with a sample of N = 122. The greatest long-term retention was achieved in the test/feedback condition. The bifurcation model was supported by a reduced test-delay interaction for the test/feedback condition. Further evidence for the bifurcation model is needed as interpretations on the dropout rates of items with different recall success were limited due to a floor effect.     

Preference-consistent evaluation of information in the hidden profile paradigm: beyond group-level explanations for the dominance of shared information in group decisions

Common explanations for the failure of groups to solve so-called hidden profiles focus on group processes, namely insufficient discussion of unshared information and premature consensus on a suboptimal alternative. As 2 experiments show, even in the absence of such group processes, hidden profiles are hardly ever solved. In Experiment 1, participants first received individual information about a personnel selection task and then read a group discussion protocol containing full information exchange. If the individual information was misleading (hidden profile), most participants failed to detect the correct alternative. In Experiment 2, it was determined that this effect is due to preference-consistent evaluation of information that constitutes an individual-level process mediating the failure of group members to solve hidden profiles.     

Leadership behavior,group climate and outcome in group psychotherapy: A study of outpatient psychotherapy groups

A recent clinical study of outpatient psychotherapy groups in a community mental health center explored the linkage between group leadership variables, group climate, and outcome. The study involved nine outpatient therapy groups, over 50 group clients, and several group therapists. A repeated measures design involving assessment of clients' outcome and level of functioning, group leadership style, and group climate was used to assess changes over a 6-month period. The findings suggest: 1) a reduction in symptoms and improved functioning for clients; 2) a similarity of perceptions by members and leaders of perceived leadership behaviors and group climate; 3) the presence of direct and indirect influences of group climate and leadership behavior on clients' outcome; and 4) a linkage between leadership behavior and group climate with the theoretical orientation of the group. The findings of the research are discussed in relation to the understanding of specific effects in group psychotherapy and the implications for construction of group psychotherapy theory.The authors would like to thank Robert Dies, Ph.D., for his helpful suggestions in the early phase of this study; Roy MacKenzie, M.D., for permission to use the Group Climate Questionnaire; Diane DePalma, Ph.D., for permission to use the Global Leadership Behavior Index; Chris Boltwood, B.A., for her untiring efforts in administering the instruments and coding and entering the data; and most importantly, the psychotherapy group members and the group therapists for their cooperation in this endeavor—without their help, this clinical study would not have been possible.A version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, 1987, New Orleans, Louisiana. Lenore Phipps, R.N., M.S., C.S., was formerly Director, Group Psychotherapy Program at Park Ridge Mental Health Center, Rochester, now in private practice at Guild Medical Center, Norwood, MA 02062.     

Effects of personality on driving behaviors among professional truck drivers: The mediating effect of safety climate

Introduction: The number of traffic accidents involving truck drivers remains high, and strategies to eliminate the probability of such accidents have been proposed, among which enhancing the safety climate has attracted much interest. The main purpose of the current study was to validate the Chinese version of the safety climate scale for truck drivers and apply it to investigate the mediating effect of safety climate between truck driver personality and driving behavior. Method: A total of 389 male truck drivers completed the Big Five Inventory, the Chinese version of the trucking safety climate scale, the driver behavior questionnaire and the positive driver behavior scale. Results: The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the organization-level safety climate scale and the group-level safety climate scale were confirmed through factor analysis. More importantly, a path analysis revealed that the organization-level safety climate mediated the effects of agreeableness and neuroticism on aggressive violations, ordinary violations and lapses, while the group-level safety climate mediated the influences of agreeableness, neuroticism and openness on positive behavior and all four kinds of aberrant driving behaviors. Conclusions: This study introduced the trucking safety climate scale into China and stressed the significance of improving both the organizational and the group levels of safety climate to reduce accidents involving professional truck drivers. Practical Applications: First, the adapted safety climate scale for Chinese truck drivers contributes to further investigating the role that safety climate plays in the safety problem of truck drivers in China. Moreover, the critical impacts of both levels of the trucking safety climate serve as reminders for relevant companies to not only pay attention to establishing an organization-level safety climate but also invest more effort into promoting the group-level safety climate.     

Operationalizing the effect of the group on the individual: A self-attention perspective

The effect of the group on the individual is considered from the perspective of self-attention theory. It is proposed that group members will become more self-attentive, and thus become more concerned with matching to standards of appropriate behavior, as the relative size of their subgroup decreases. A simple algorithm, termed the Other-Total Ratio, is presented which numerically describes this effect of the group on the individual. An analysis of group effects on individuals' self-attention supports this perspective, as do analyses of the results of 42 previous studies in four other areas (conformity, prosocial behavior, social loafing, and antisocial behavior). This orientation to the effect of the group on the individual is linked to recent developments in self-attention theory and compared to Latané's social impact theory.     

The impact of safety climate on safety related driving behaviors

This study explored the impact of safety climate, age and tenure as a driver on safety related driving behaviors among 290 company drivers in Ghana. The study found a negative relationship between safety climate and studied work-related behaviors: speeding, rule violation, inattention and driving whiles tired. The study also found that age significantly predicted the extent to which drivers engaged in safety related driving behaviors. The results showed that young drivers (aged 20–35 years) engage more in risky driving behaviors relative to adult drivers (aged 36–60 years). The study also found that the tenure of a driver did not significantly affect work-related driver behaviors. The findings from this study suggests that in the quest to reduce safety related traffic accidents and its resulting consequences such as injuries, absenteeism and deaths, a critical organizational variable that organizations can use to mitigate this canker is commitment to and strict adherence to safety practices and regulations. By extension, the findings suggest, Ghana’s commitment to safety practices and enforcement of safety regulations and policies among others can help the country win the battle against road accidents.     

Supervisory interpretation of safety climate versus employee safety climate perception: Association with safety behavior and outcomes for lone workers

Research has shown that safety climate predicts safety behavior and safety outcomes in a variety of settings. Prior studies have focused on traditional work environments in which employees and supervisors work in the same location and the mechanisms through which safety climate affects behavior are largely understood. However, the nascent research examining safety climate among lone workers suggests that safety climate may have some uniqueness in this context. Based on leadership theories and utilizing an exploratory approach, this study increases our understanding of the lone worker context by examining employee perception of safety climate and supervisory interpretation of safety climate; how similar or different they are, and how they are related to important safety outcomes. Surveys were administered to a matched sample of 1831 truck drivers and their 219 supervisors at four different trucking companies. Objective data on employee injuries were collected six months after survey administration. The results provided support for the measurement equivalence of the Trucking Safety Climate Scale at the organization level for both employee and supervisor respondents. For both organization- and group-level safety climate, employee perceptions of safety climate and supervisory interpretation of safety climate were significantly different, such that supervisors provided higher ratings for both safety climate sub-scales. Further, only employee safety climate perceptions significantly predicted self-reported safety behavior (directly) and objective injury outcomes (indirectly). This suggests that when trying to gauge and improve upon a trucking company’s safety climate, we should rely on employee perspectives, rather than supervisory interpretation, of safety climate.     

Using the Job Demands-Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations

Using the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationship between risk perception as a job demand and psychological safety climate as a job resource with regard to job satisfaction in safety critical organizations. In line with the JD-R model, it was hypothesized that high levels of risk perception is related to low job satisfaction and that a positive perception of safety climate is related to high job satisfaction. In addition, it was hypothesized that safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Norwegian offshore workers (N = 986), all three hypotheses were supported. In summary, workers who perceived high levels of risk reported lower levels of job satisfaction, whereas this effect diminished when workers perceived their safety climate as positive. Follow-up analyses revealed that this interaction was dependent on the type of risks in question. The results of this study supports the JD-R model, and provides further evidence for relationships between safety-related concepts and work-related outcomes indicating that organizations should not only develop and implement sound safety procedures to reduce the effects of risks and hazards on workers, but can also enhance other areas of organizational life through a focus on safety.     

Validation of intelligence and mechanical aptitude tests in selecting employees for manufacturing jobs

One hundred ninety-three manufacturing employees who produce electro-mechanical components participated in a concurrent criterion-related validity study. The employees were administered three tests: The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test (Form S); The Flanagan Aptitude Classification Test-Mechanics; and the Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness (Form A). Job performance was measured by a supervisor rating of fifteen job dimensions, assessed at two points in time separated by 60 days. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between test scores and job performance ratings. The results revealed that the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension test was the best single predictor of job performance (uncorrectedr =.38), and the incremental gain in predictability from additional tests was not significant. The results were discussed in the context of the changing nature of manufacturing jobs and the inadequacy of conventional mechanical aptitude tests to be sensitive to these changes.     

Positive organizational behavior and safety in the offshore oil industry: Exploring the determinants of positive safety climate

Much research has now documented the substantial influence of safety climate on a range of important outcomes in safety critical organizations, but there has been scant attention to the question of what factors might be responsible for positive or negative safety climate. The present paper draws from positive organizational behavior theory to test workplace and individual factors that may affect safety climate. Specifically, we explore the potential influence of authentic leadership style and psychological capital on safety climate and risk outcomes. Across two samples of offshore oil-workers and seafarers working on oil platform supply ships, structural equation modeling yielded results that support a model in which authentic leadership exerts a direct effect on safety climate, as well as an indirect effect via psychological capital. This study shows the importance of leadership qualities as well as psychological factors in shaping a positive work safety climate and lowering the risk of accidents.