Psychological Safety Climate Research Articles

Examining the relationship between perceived organizational support and teachers’ resistance to change: the mediating effects of climate for initiative and psychological safety

Examining the relationship between perceived organizational support and teachers’ resistance to change: the mediating effects of climate for initiative and psychological safety

Examining How Psychological Safety Consensus Emerges Over Time

Although research has provided rich data highlighting the value of team psychological safety, a common call among scholars is the need for longitudinal examinations of this construct to test implicit assumptions about time made in dominant team theories. By analyzing changes in both consensus and the average level of psychological safety over time, we respond to this need and provide insight into emergent state development. Results indicated that team psychological safety climate develops over time through consensus emergence, this process is initiated by early information sharing, and there is a decline in the average level of psychological safety over time.

Concerns about practice: supporting staff by fostering a climate of psychological safety.

The nursing profession is under growing pressure and many nursing staff find it increasingly challenging to maintain standards and provide safe, effective and efficient care that meets the needs of patients. Nurses' job satisfaction is predicated on feeling supported, including when there are concerns about practice - whether their own or that of their colleagues. This article discusses how nurse managers can support staff to challenge suboptimal practice, admit their own errors and learn from these by fostering a climate of psychological safety. This includes adopting a relational model of leadership; cultivating open communication; providing clarity on roles and expectations; ensuring transparency and fairness in performance management; having supportive 'tough conversations' with staff; demonstrating objectivity when investigating concerns; and promoting a 'just culture'.

Mental Well-Being and Management Support of Quick Service Restaurant Employees in the 4 Cities of Batangas

The study aimed to assess the mental well- being and management support during the time of the pandemic among restaurant employees in quick-service restaurants (QSR) in the cities of Batangas Province. It presented the profile of the restaurant employees in terms of gender, length of service, and type of employees; determined the mental well-being of employees in terms of well-being, psychological distress, absenteeism/ presenteeism; and work engagement; assessed the management support in terms of supervision support at work and psychological safety climate management; tested the significant difference when grouped according to the profile. Descriptive research was used with 103 QSR employees weighted mean and ANOVA are the statistical tests utilized. Based on the result, the majority of the QSR employees were 20-30 years old, female, working for less than 6 months, in a full-time category, in a franchised quick service restaurant with 1 to 2 days missed shifts in 28 days. The mental well-being of the QSR employees was stable because they often felt that they are close to other people, though sometimes they experienced that working was an effort, and during their absence, they are contacted by their manager or supervisor and their supervisor was accessible and approachable to their team. With this supervisor attitude, they felt that time passed quickly when they working. The responses of the QSR employees with regard to well-being differed when grouped according to profile. Assessment of psychological distress differed in terms of age, length of service, and type of ownership while for absenteeism the assessment differed in terms of types of employment and number of days missed. As to management support, only the assessment of QSR employees differed in terms of supervision at work and work engagement when grouped according to age.

Psychological safety and psychosocial safety climate in workplace: A bibliometric analysis and systematic review towards a research agenda

Introduction: Research on workplace safety has seen significant growth in academic and industry-focused literature over the past 20 years. However, the extant literature on workplace safety tends to focus on safety outcomes of physical accidents and injuries while relegating its conceptual and theoretical development to the background. Psychological safety and psychosocial safety climate in the workplace are essential to workers’ health and safety. These concepts are crucial in enabling job satisfaction, work engagement, and performance productivity. Progressing the literature on this subject is necessary to keep abreast with the changing dynamics of the post-COVID challenges, such as working from home, isolation, and stress from AI, among others. A significant gap in the extant literature burrows in the lack of conceptual clarity of workplace safety from a psychological perspective and the poor understanding of its substantive effects on organizations. Hence, re-examining workplace safety's conceptual and theoretical foundations from a psychological lens offers a more nuanced understanding of its potential to contribute to employee well-being and organizational resilience, pursuing a better work-life safe and more comfortable working environment. Method: This study: (a) synthesizes the theoretical propositions and empirical findings from 990 research articles published between 2000 and 2023 to map the existing body of knowledge about psychological safety and psychosocial safety climate, including their theoretical underpinnings and mechanisms, to offer a state-of-the-art overview of the scope of workplace occupational health and safety research from a psychological perspective; (b) applied a data-based research design adhering to PRISMA; (c) compiled descriptive synthesis and textual narrative syntheses through bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review; and (d) opens the black box of workplace safety research by presenting significant findings to inform future conceptual, theoretical, and methodological research as well as the practice of workplace safety through the lens of psychology. Results: This study’s findings further offer managerial implications to workplace safety policy-making and human resource management practices to enhance employees’ psychological safety and eliminate workplace psychosocial hazards.

UMBLE LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE ON CREATIVE PERFORMANCE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY CLIMATE AND THE MODERATING EFFECT OF LMX

This study aimed to investigate how humble leadership influences creative performance by mediating the psychological safety climate and the moderating role of leader-member exchange (LMX). We hypothesized that humble leadership could positively foster a psychological safety climate, thereby enhancing creative performance, and that LMX would strengthen this positive effect of humble leadership. Using quantitative research methods, this study surveyed 684 ordinary white-collar employees in China and analyzed the collected data using structural equation modeling and multiple linear regression. Overall, the results supported all of the hypotheses. Humble leadership had a positive effect on both psychological safety climate and creative performance. There was also a positive effect on psychological safety climate and creative performance. Finally, psychological safety climate acted as a mediator between humble leadership and creative performance. When LMX levels were high, the positive effect of humble leadership on psychological safety climate became more noticeable. The conclusions of this study indicate that humble leadership is an effective means to promote employees' creative performance as it operates through shaping a psychologically safe work environment, while high-quality LMX relationships can further enhance this effect.

Relaxing into differences and energizing into differences: How group‐based play enables demographically diverse adults to co‐create a climate of psychological safety

Relaxing into differences and energizing into differences: How group‐based play enables demographically diverse adults to co‐create a climate of psychological safety

Leadership Strategies to Increase Psychological Safety of Nurses: A Longitudinal Study.

A work environment where employees feel comfortable taking chances without fear and with sufficient protection from retaliation is psychologically safe. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of leader training for nurse managers on psychological safety of clinical registered nurses. The study was designed a longitudinal outcomes approach to assess nurse leader intervention (classes on leadership methods and psychological safety) with pre- and post-intervention measurement of nurse psychological safety at each time point. The intervention and nurse leader rounding were shown to increase individual psychological safety climate scores of clinical nurses. Psychological safety is an important component to consider in a nursing leadership role. Leadership interventions that focus on the tenets of psychological safety and include methods of being present, such as nurse leader rounding, can foster a sense of a psychologically safe environment for clinical registered nurses.

Speaking Up About Patient Safety, Withholding Voice and Safety Climate in Clinical Settings: a Cross-Sectional Study Among Ibero-American Healthcare Students.

To explore speaking up behaviours, barriers to openly expressing patient safety concerns, and perceived psychological safety climate in the clinical setting in which healthcare trainees from Ibero-America were receiving their practical training. Cross-sectional survey of healthcare trainees from Colombia, Mexico, and Spain (N = 1,152). Before the field study, the Speaking Up About Patient Safety Questionnaire (SUPS-Q) was translated into Spanish and assessed for face validity. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish the construct validity of the instrument, and the reliability was assessed. The SUPS-Q was used to evaluate voice behaviours and the perceived psychological safety climate among Ibero-American trainees. Descriptive and frequency analyses, tests for contrasting means and proportions, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Seven hundred and seventy-one trainees had experience in clinical settings. In the previous month, 88.3% had experienced patient safety concerns, and 68.9% had prevented a colleague from making an error. More than a third had remained silent in a risky situation. Perceiving concerns, being male or nursing student, and higher scores on the encouraging environment scale were associated with speaking up. Patient safety concerns were frequent among Ibero-American healthcare trainees and often silenced by personal and cultural barriers. Training in speaking up and fostering safe interprofessional spaces is crucial.

Navigating diversity: identity perceptions and workplace dynamics

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of dissimilarity perceptions, specifically related to religious identity and socioeconomic class, on identity disclosure behavior within the workplace. It also explores the relationship between disclosure behavior and perceptions of workplace ostracism. The study further examines the moderating roles of psychological safety climate and diversity-focused human resource (HR) practices in these dynamics.Design/methodology/approachUsing quantitative methods, this confirmatory study analyzes the relationships between dissimilarity perceptions, identity disclosure behavior, workplace ostracism perceptions, psychological safety climate and diversity-focused HR policies. Hypotheses are tested to understand the effects of these variables in the workplace context.FindingsThe findings reveal that subjective dissimilarity perceptions are negatively associated with identity disclosure behavior. In addition, disclosure behavior is positively linked to perceptions of workplace ostracism. Surprisingly, the study finds that the psychological safety climate moderates the relationship between dissimilarity perceptions and identity disclosure behavior, showing a positive relationship when psychological safety climate perceptions are high. Furthermore, perceptions of diversity-focused HR policies moderate the relationship between disclosure behavior and perceptions of workplace ostracism, indicating a weakened relationship when diversity-focused HR practices are perceived as stronger.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of workplace diversity, inclusion and management by emphasizing the role of subjective dissimilarity perceptions, identity disclosure behavior and workplace ostracism. It explores the moderating influence of psychological safety climate and diversity-focused HR practices, offering valuable insights for both theory and practical strategies in the context of diversity management.

Effect of spiritual leadership on psychological safety climate and team innovation in consulting teams: the moderating role of occupational self-efficacy

Purpose This study examines the effect of the spiritual leadership of the leaders in a consulting team on psychological safety climate and team innovation. Moreover, our research adopts the contingency theory of leadership to investigate whether the effect of spiritual leadership on psychological safety climate and team innovation could be moderated by personal characteristics of team members in terms of occupational self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approach Survey data were obtained from 229 team members across 24 consulting firms in Bangkok. To minimize common method bias, team innovation was assessed by team leaders while other variables were assessed by team members. We used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the data.Findings The analysis supports the positive effect of spiritual leadership on psychological safety climate and team innovation. Psychological safety climate also mediates the effect of spiritual leadership on team innovation. Lastly, the moderating effect analysis shows that the spiritual leadership of the team leaders exerts a weaker influence on the psychological safety climate and team innovation when team members exhibit high levels of occupational self-efficacy.Practical implications Because spiritual leadership plays a significant role in boosting team innovation through the creation of a psychologically safe climate, the consulting firms can provide a leadership development program to help their team leaders to gain insight into the nature of spiritual leadership and learn how to demonstrate appropriate behaviors when they supervise a team. In particular, this policy recommendation is highly relevant when team leaders supervise members who exhibit low occupational self-efficacy.Originality/value Our findings not only illustrate that spiritual leadership could enhance team innovation through the mediating role of psychological safety climate, but the level of occupational self-efficacy of the team members could significantly reduce the effects of spiritual leadership on psychological safety climate and team innovation.

Drivers of Toxic Cultures and What We Can Do About It!

The nature of work has undergone significant changes. In times of uncertainty, the importance of culture cannot be overstated. Any missteps in shaping organisational culture can have a profound impact on the ability of an organisation to attract and retain valuable talent in the future. The objective of this practitioner’s perspective is to identify factors that contribute to a toxic culture, distinguish a healthy culture from a toxic one and establish the business imperative for detoxifying the culture to achieve organisational success. Leaders, regardless of their intentions, create and perpetuate toxic cultures through their actions. Beyond leaders, members of the organisation, whether actively or passively, contribute to the perpetuation of toxic cultures. Addressing toxic cultures is a shared responsibility. Leaders can play a pivotal role in mitigating toxicity by taking meaningful action. To step up, leaders should define what a desirable culture is, establish healthy social norms and foster a climate of psychological safety to sustain the change. Middle managers matter too. HRM can help establish alignment and accountability at all levels.

Psychological safety climate and self-managing team innovation process: The role of constructive controversy and authority differentiation.

Psychological safety climate and self-managing team innovation process: The role of constructive controversy and authority differentiation.

Supplemental Material for Psychological Safety Climate and Self-Managing Team Innovation Process: The Role of Constructive Controversy and Authority Differentiation

Supplemental Material for Psychological Safety Climate and Self-Managing Team Innovation Process: The Role of Constructive Controversy and Authority Differentiation

The impact of psychosocial safety climate on public sector job satisfaction: the moderating role of organizational climate

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to uncover the effect of psychological safety climate (PSC) on employees’ job satisfaction and organisational climate mediating processes explaining that association. It is posited that the four PSC aspects (management commitment, management priority, organisational participation, and organisational communication) are important for employees’ job satisfaction and organisational climate act as resources to facilitate the enactment of managerial quality.MethodsThis study uses a quantitative approach through a questionnaire survey method involving 340 Kota Kinabalu City Hall employees who were selected through simple random sampling.ResultsThe results of linear regression analysis found that organisation participation has a positive significant relationship with job satisfaction. Organisational communication also showed a negative and significant relationship with job satisfaction. Meanwhile, both management commitment and management priority are statistically insignificant. When the organisational climate is included in the relationship as a mediator through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to reinforce the role of psychological safety climate in increasing job satisfaction, such mediating role can only strengthen the relationship between management commitment and organisational participation with job satisfaction.ConclusionDespite the study being cross-sectional, it contributes to knowledge on the resources facilitating PSC, which is important for employees’ psychological health. From a practical viewpoint, this study contributes to the literature showing that organizations with good PSC should have policies and practices directed towards employee well-being. The implications of the study for DBKK management are to providing knowledge on the types of psychosocial safety climate domains that plays a crucial role in improving the job satisfaction of DBKK employees.

Safeguarding nurses' mental health: The critical role of psychosocial safety climate in mitigating relational stressors and exhaustion.

Burnout among nurses is a pervasive concern in healthcare, with profound implications for patient care and nurse well-being. While research has highlighted the detrimental effects of burnout on many aspects of nursing, including patient safety and quality of care, the underlying mechanisms driving burnout warrant further investigation. In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed 196 nurses from diverse Italian hospitals using an online questionnaire via Qualtrics. Our findings revealed significant negative correlations between psychological safety climate and both relational stressors and emotional exhaustion. Conversely, relational stressors positively correlated with emotional exhaustion, and a significant negative indirect effect of psychological safety climate was found for emotional exhaustion through relational stressors, emphasizing the pivotal role of psychological safety climate in mitigating nurse burnout. Our study underscores the potential effectiveness of interventions targeting psychological safety climate and relational stressors in alleviating emotional exhaustion and burnout among nurses. Theoretical implications underscore the importance of deepening the role of psychological safety climate in mitigating emotional exhaustion, while practical implications emphasize the need for fostering a positive psychological safety climate and implementing targeted interventions to support nurses' well-being.

조직구성원의 메타인지가 적응적 수행성과에 미치는 영향

This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of Self-Efficacy and the moderating effect of Psychological Safety Climate on the relationship between organizational members' Metacognition and Adaptive Performance, which is required to adapt to a continuously changing organizational environment, and to explore the mechanisms that enhance the effectiveness of Metacognition in influencing Adaptive Performance. To test the hypotheses, a total of 360 questionnaires were collected from employees of domestic companies in various industries with more than 300 employees and analyzed.
 As a result of the study, first, the direct effect between organizational members’ Metacognition and Adaptive Performance was confirmed. Second, Self-Efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between organizational members’ Metacognition and Adaptive Performance. Third, both simple moderating effect(reinforcing effect) and conditional indirect effect of Psychological Safety Climate on the relationship between Self-Efficacy and Adaptive Performance was identified.
 This study contributes to the extension and development of the existing research on Metacognition by empirically testing the mechanisms and boundary conditions between Metacognition and Adaptive Performance of organizational members. In addition, theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, as well as limitations of the study and directions for future research.

The role of contextual voice efficacy on employee voice and silence

AbstractGiven recent studies have begun to question the siloed nature of employee voice research this paper attempts to theorise the boundaries between Organisational Behavior (OB), Human Resource Management (HRM) and Industrial and Employment Relations (I/ER) voice. Researchers examine specific organisational contexts that may influence employees' voice behavior, with OB researchers paying particular attention to the micro contextual influences of leadership behavior and psychological safety climate on individual voice behavior; HR researchers emphasizing the meso role of HR practices that may facilitate employee voice; and I/ER researchers focusing more on how macro institutional supports such as unions and collective bargaining can protect employees and facilitate voice. The paper proposes a model of “contextual voice efficacy” as a bridge between these disparate literatures, and develops propositions as to how OB, HR and I/ER voice mechanisms can combine together in a single model.

Effect of proactive personality on employees' pro-social rule breaking: the role of promotion focus and psychological safety climate

Effect of proactive personality on employees' pro-social rule breaking: the role of promotion focus and psychological safety climate

Being open, feeling safe and getting creative: The role of team mean openness to experience in the emergence of team psychological safety and team creativity

AbstractAlthough the effects of openness to experience (OTE) on individual creativity are well‐established, research on how such effects unfold in a team context is scarce. Drawing on theories of group norms and uncertainty reduction, we argue that team mean OTE leads to a climate of team psychological safety which, in turn, facilitates team creativity. We test our hypothesis over three independent studies, the first comprising 35 business student project teams, the second based on 28 professional teams from the automotive industry, both conducted in the United Kingdom, and the third comprising 24 healthcare teams in Portugal. As predicted, across all three studies, team mean OTE was positively associated with team creativity via the affective emergent state of team psychological safety. Furthermore, the mediating role of team psychological safety remained significant even when accounting for team OTE variance, alternative motivational and cognitive emergent states, namely team promotion focus (studies 1 and 2) and team exploration climate (study 3), as well as empowering leadership (study 3). Finally, in study 3, we examined the differential impact of the two major facets of OTE, intellect, and openness, and found that intellect, but not openness, was responsible for driving the indirect effects. Further analysis did not support alternative perspectives concerning team OTE variance or the interaction between mean and variance. Our findings not only contribute to theoretical understanding regarding the relationship between team personality composition, specifically OTE, and team creativity but also provide much‐needed insight into how such effects unfold. We delineate several practical implications for team design and development.