"Beliefs about Management and Coworkers, Social Sensitivity, and Health Care Worker Safety Attitudes"

Abstract

A large percentage of health care workers are routinely exposed to health and safety threats. Drawing on Salancik and Pfeffer's Social Information Processing Theory, a social referencing and job characteristics theory of work attitudes, this paper proposes that the worker's safety attitudes are related to a combination of personal knowledge and social information from management and coworkers. Hypothesized are relationships between the worker's sensitivity to social information, social safety cognitions (the perception of others' safety attitudes), and the worker's own safety attitudes. Findings from a field study among emergency medical technicians reveal that belief in management's willingness to promote a safe work environment has a significant relationship with the technician's perceived risk and concern about hazards. The technician's sensitivity to social information affects this belief. These findings, combined with the finding that the worker's personal experiences also influence safety attitudes,...