We do not exist in an affective vacuum! Cross-level effects of trait affect and group affective properties on individual performance

Better safe than sorry: the role of anticipated regret and organizational ethical climate in predicting workplace safety behavior

Purpose

Based on the theory of reasoned action, this study aims to illustrate how employees’ safety behavior can be enhanced in the workplace by specifically examining how anticipated regret leads to workplace safety behavior and the contextual factor of organizational ethical climate.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopted a quantitative approach and designed their survey from validated scales in prior studies. Data were obtained from two different sources, including 149 employees and 31 immediate supervisors. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were applied to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results showed that anticipated regret was significantly related to safety compliance and safety participation; egoistic ethical climate was negatively correlated with safety compliance and safety participation, while benevolent ethical climate was only positively correlated with safety participation. For cross-level moderating effects, both benevolent and principle ethical climate moderate the relationship between anticipated regret and safety participation, whereas all three ethical climates did not moderate the relationship between anticipated regret and safety compliance.

Research limitations/implications

It contributes to current literature by identifying critical determinants of employees’ safety behavior, which would enable practitioners to manage safety in the workplace and foster a safe working environment. Specifically, fostering benevolent ethical climate can better promote employees’ perceptions of the importance of discretionary safety behavior.

Originality/value

This study suggests that organizational practitioners could use the salience of anticipated regret to promote the safety behavioral intentions of employees in the workplace. Further, the authors examined a multilevel framework, which elaborates individual- and organizational-level antecedents of employee safety behavior as well as the impact of cross-level interactions on employee safety behavior.

The nexus between diversity management (DM) and organizational performance (OP): mediating role of cognitive and affective diversity

Purpose

Present day organizations are considering workforce diversity as one of the main challenges in the human resource management. This study aims to find out the relationship between diversity management (DM) in the context of strategic human resource management (SHRM) and organizational performance (OP). An attempt is made to find out the mediation effect of cognitive diversity (CD) and affective diversity (AD) in the relationship between DM and OP.

Design/methodology/approach

The constructs investigated in the present study include DM, OP, CD and AD. Structural equation modeling has been used to test the model fit. The data was collected from 50 human resource professionals working in different organizations in the information technology (IT) sector in Bangalore, India. Confirmatory factor analysis has been used for establishing the reliability.

Findings

The results show that there exists a significant relationship between DM and OP. This significant positive relationship can be attributed to the mediating role of CD and significant negative relationship is because of the AD.

Research limitations/implications

This study has several limitations. In this study, only three DM practices have been considered. The generalization of the results is another limitation as the study has been conducted in the IT sector in Bangalore, India. Similarly, sample size also affects the implications of an empirical study and sample size in this study is small. This study has investigated only the impact of two aspects of diversity, cognitive and affective, while neglecting the effect of communicational and symbolic processes.

Practical implications

The results indicate that organizations must consider that by providing intercultural trainings (ICTs), work–life balance (WLB) and work-time flexibility options, the negative aspects of diversity can be minimized. Moreover, organizations should encourage the task conflict which leads to better decision-making as well as creates a sense of group identification, which may help in the avoidance of negative consequences of AD.

Originality/value

This study is undertaken to find out the effect of certain diversity-oriented SHRM practices such as flexible working times, WLB, ICT and its impact on the OP in the Indian IT industry. This study has investigated the mediating role of CD and AD on the relationship between diversity-oriented SHRM practices and OP, which is the novelty of this study. Third, the study has been undertaken considering that there is a dearth of research on the impact of AD and CD on OP in the Indian context.