"Are you feeling safe?": an investigation of psychosocial safety climate in the relations of job characteristics and employee exhaustion and engagement

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is defined as the corporate climate in relation to employees' perceptions of organizational policies, procedures, and practices for the protection of employee psychosocial safety and well-being. The present study was based on the Demand-Induced Strain Compensation (DISC) Model and proposed that the interplay between identical job demands and resources would be conditioned by PSC. Particularly, high levels of PSC would enable employees to optimally perceive and utilize more job resources in dealing with corresponding job demands. A study was conducted among 406 Chinese workers from various occupational sectors. The findings of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that PSC a) mitigates the negative relation between emotional resources and exhaustion, b) enhances the positive relation between emotional resources and work engagement, and c) mitigates the negative relation between emotional demands and work engagement. We also found that PSC is a compensatory factor for low cognitive resources and demands encouraging high work engagement. Although we did not find the proposed three-way interactions, the present findings support the idea that high PSC is a fundamental contextual factor conducive to workers' health and well-being, especially in perceiving and obtaining emotional resources.

Evidence for a Negative Loss Spiral between Co-Worker Social Support and Burnout: Can Psychosocial Safety Climate Break the Cycle?

Previous research suggests that co-worker social support predicts burnout, but this relationship may be far more complex, with the potential for a reciprocal cycle of loss. Leading research on loss spirals has explicitly called for more research on interindividual factors such as social support and, by extension, how interventions that operate on these interpersonal resources could play a role in primary and secondary prevention (i.e., intervening in cycles of loss). In this study, we explore the reciprocal relationship between burnout and co-worker social support, with psychosocial safety climate (PSC) as an upstream predictor and moderator of this relationship. Using hierarchical linear modelling (N = 380 frontline healthcare workers, nested within N = 63 teams) on longitudinal data, we found a reciprocal relationship between burnout and co-worker support, which was both triggered and moderated by PSC. These findings provide initial evidence for a social support-burnout loss spiral, wherein individuals with poor co-worker support are more likely to become burnt-out, and in this depleted state they are subsequently less likely to reach out for those social supports when available, which would, in turn, lead to further burnout. This social support-burnout loss spiral is exacerbated when working in a low-PSC context, as the environment does not send positive safety signals about resource scarcity and replenishment. Therefore, PSC may be a potential target for intervention both in primary prevention (i.e., stopping the loss spiral in the first instance) and in secondary intervention, as high PSC signals to workers already in the burnout-support loss cycle when it is safe to reinvest resources or engage in recovery behavior.

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and working conditions, predictors of mental health and antidepressant and opioid use in Australia: a study protocol for longitudinal data linkage

INTRODUCTION

Work-related stress is a social determinant of global health that represents a huge cost to workers' health and reduces work performance. In Australia, mental well-being is a pressing national issue-with one in five Australians experiencing mental disorders. Antidepressants are a first-line medication commonly used to treat mental disorders. Recently, Australia has seen a dramatic increase in the use of prescribed antidepressant medications to treat mental health related illnesses. Australia has also seen a dramatic increase in the use of prescribed opioid analgesics for non-cancer pain including opioid use for psychological distress and social stressors. It is plausible a rise in mental health problems and antidepressant and opioid medication use is partly attributable to the corporate climate for worker mental health (ie, the psychosocial safety climate, PSC). This research aims to identify how PSC and workplace conditions contribute to employee well-being and distress that culminate in antidepressant and opioid medication use.

METHODS/ANALYSIS

Data will be collected through creative data linkage from the Australian Workplace Barometer (AWB), to medication data (via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, PBS). The participant sample will include 1372 working Australians from the AWB project from 2009 to 2021. Four waves of longitudinal data from 2009 to 2021 will be used to investigate the plausible link between Australia's high levels of antidepressant and opioid use and distress at work. The project advances theory by probing the role corporate climate plays in work design, distress, mental health problems and antidepressant and opioid use. It will determine if antidepressant and opioid use has led to an underestimation of work stress effects. Proposed theoretical models will be analysed through linked data, using continuous time structural equation modelling, hierarchical linear modelling, logistic regression and cost estimation.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of South Australia (Ethics Protocol: 203003). Further, approval from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Ethics Committee was also granted for linkage of AWB data and PBS data (EthOS Application EO2022/1/1190).Results of the study will be disseminated through worldwide keynotes, key international settings, high-impact peer-reviewed journals, industry conference presentations and media outlets to reach managers, workers, and industry partners. Further, UniSA requires publications from public projects to be held in an institutional repository which fulfils the Australian Research Council's Open Access Policy.

The role of psychosocial safety climate on flexible work from home digital job demands and work-life conflict

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of employees in flexible work from home has increased markedly along with a reliance on information communication technologies. This study investigated the role of an organisational factor, psychosocial safety climate (PSC; the climate for worker psychological health and safety), as an antecedent of these new kinds of demands (specifically work from home digital job demands) and their effect on work-life conflict. Data were gathered via an online survey of 2,177 employees from 37 Australian universities. Multilevel modelling showed that university level PSC to demands, y=-0.09, SE=0.03, p<0.01, and demands to work-life conflict, y=0.51, SE=0.19, p<0.05, relationships were significant. Supporting the antecedent theory, university level PSC was significantly indirectly related to work-life conflict via demands (LL -0.10 UL -0.01). Against expectations PSC did not moderate the demand to work-life conflict relationship. The results imply that targeting PSC could help prevent work from home digital job demands, and therefore, work-life conflict. Further research is needed on the role of digital job resources as flexible and hybrid work takes hold post COVID.

Psychosocial safety climate: Measurement and relationship with well-being in a four-wave longitudinal study during remote work

To create healthy workplaces, organizations need tools for assessing factors contributing to employee well-being. Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) refers to shared perceptions regarding the extent to which psychological health and safety are prioritized in organizations; it is operationalized in the PSC scale. We evaluated the factor structure of the Finnish version of the PSC-4 scale, its invariance across time and concurrent and predictive relationships with perceived stress, job exhaustion, and work engagement. Moreover, the mean-level changes in PSC and well-being during enforced remote work were studied. Participants were 442 higher education employees who completed a well-being survey four times between April 2020 and February 2021. The longitudinal factor structure of the PSC-4 and well-being indicators were investigated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The statistical analyses supported the one-factor structure of the PSC-4 and its measurement invariance across time. PSC was negatively associated with concurrent stress and job exhaustion and positively associated with concurrent work engagement at each measurement. Moreover, PSC predicted subsequent stress between each time point. Cross-lagged effects were also evident for job exhaustion at T2-T3 and T3-T4 and for work engagement at T1-T2. The mean level of PSC decreased during enforced remote work. To conclude, the Finnish PSC-4 is a valid tool for evaluating perceived psychosocial safety climate in organizations. PSC predicted well-being over time and showed subsequent relationships with job exhaustion and work engagement, which is a new contribution to PSC theory and literature. Organizations need to design interventions to improve it, especially during stressful times.

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at middle management level in the healthcare sector: A contribution to the Italian validation of psychosocial safety climate-4

Introduction

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) refers to workers' shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of psychological health and safety. PSC offers a multilevel organizational approach that expands traditional models of workplace stress, giving a more comprehensive understanding of occupational health and safety issues. Although considerable research on psychosocial risks in the healthcare sector has been conducted, few studies have explored the role of PSC among healthcare workers at middle management level. Additionally, no validated version of PSC is available in Italian language. The aim of this study is to contribute to the validation of the Italian 4-item version of the PSC and to explore this theory within the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) among a sample of Italian healthcare workers by testing PSC at the middle management level.

Methods

We used cross-sectional data from 276 employees working in 17 different wards in a large Italian hospital. Intra-class coefficient (ICC) coefficient and agreement index were used to test PSC as a climate construct (data nested to hospital ward level). We performed hierarchical linear models to test mediation and moderation effects.

Results

The Italian version of PSC-4 proved to have good psychometric properties and confirmed its role as a group-level construct (α = 0.84; ICC = 0.16). Multilevel random coefficient models showed PSC was associated with Job demands (Effort: B = -0.36, SE = 0.07; Emotional demands: B = -0.03, SE = 0.01) and Job resources (Reward: B = 1.16, SE = 0.01; Physical work environment: B = 0.06, SE = 0.01). Results confirmed the indirect effect of PSC on Psychological (Burnout) and Occupational health (Job satisfaction) outcomes supporting the role of Job resources and Job demands as mediators. The multilevel analysis did not find a significant interaction terms between PSC and Job demands on Burnout therefore the moderation hypothesis was not supported.

Discussion

The Italian version of PSC-4 is a valid tool to evaluate PSC. These findings sustain the multilevel framework of PSC and the significant role played by mid-leaders in both the health impairment and motivational path. Further studies should explore the buffering effect of PSC at higher baseline levels as well as the adoption of PSC as a target for occupational health intervention the Italian context.

Occupational Safety and Health Staging Framework for Decent Work

The 2030 United Nations Goal 8 for sustainable development focuses on decent work. There is utility in identifying the occupational safety and health aspects of Goal 8, as they pertain to the four pillars of decent work: job creation, social protection, rights of workers, and social dialogue. A workgroup of the International Commission on Occupational Health and collaborators addressed the issue of decent work and occupational safety and health (OSH) with the objective of elaborating a framework for guidance for practitioners, researchers, employers, workers, and authorities. This article presents that framework, which is based on an examination of the literature and the perspectives of the workgroup. The framework encompasses the intersection of the pillars of decent (employment creation, social protection, rights of workers, and social dialogue) work with new and emerging hazards and risks related to various selected determinants: new technologies and new forms of work; demographics (aging and gender); globalization; informal work; migration; pandemics; and OSH policies and climate change. The OSH field will need an expanded focus to address the future of decent work. This focus should incorporate the needs of workers and workforces in terms of their well-being. The framework identifies a starting point for the OSH community to begin to promote decent work.

Workplace bullying as an organizational problem: Spotlight on people management practices

Though workplace bullying is conceptualized as an organizational problem, there remains a gap in understanding the contexts in which bullying manifests-knowledge vital for addressing bullying in practice. In three studies, we leverage the rich content contained within workplace bullying complaint records to explore this issue then, based on our discoveries, investigate people management practices linked to bullying. First, through content analysis of 342 official complaints lodged with a state health and safety regulator (over 5,500 pages), we discovered that the risk of bullying primarily arises from ineffective people management in 11 different contexts (e.g., managing underperformance, coordinating working hours, and entitlements). Next, we developed a behaviorally anchored rating scale to measure people management practices within a refined set of nine risk contexts. Effective and ineffective behavioral indicators were identified through content analysis of the complaints data and data from 44 critical incident interviews with subject matter experts; indicators were then sorted and rated by two independent samples to form a risk audit tool. Finally, data from a multilevel multisource study of 145 clinical healthcare staff nested in 25 hospital wards showed that the effectiveness of people management practices predicts concurrent exposure to workplace bullying at individual level beyond established organizational antecedents, and at the team level beyond leading indicator psychosocial safety climate. Overall, our findings highlight where the greatest risk of bullying lies within organizational systems and identifies effective ways of managing people within those contexts to reduce the risk, opening new avenues for bullying intervention research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychosocial Safety Climate of Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran: A Policy Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Iran is among the top 15 countries in the world in terms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection rates. The numbers of infections and deaths are still increasing in September 2020. This study aims to investigate the impact of the policies on terminating the quarantine period on the perception of psychosocial safety by employees and workers in Iran.

METHODS

In this study, policy announcements and regulations, media reports, and the results were collected from 2 previously published population surveys that collected employees' views of the government approach to quarantine. The information thus collected was then analyzed using the "What is the Problem Represented (WPR)" approach for data analysis introduced by Carol Bacchi, and focuses on the question, "What effects are produced by the representation of the problem?"

RESULTS

The Iranian Government decided to quarantine people and close most sectors during the New Year holidays in Iran in March 2020. The duration of quarantine was only 2 weeks, and the government then ordered government organizations and industrial companies to reopen. The advantage of a short quarantine period is assumed to be the reinstatement of productivity while the disadvantage is the likely risk of further transmission of the virus.

CONCLUSION

The government approach to and communication about the quarantine period has neglected to consider the psychosocial safety climate of employees, who have to go to their workplaces using buses, subways, or other vehicles, and who are under pressure mentally because of fear of infection, dismissal for non-attendance, and the consequent economic problems. The government approach necessarily impacts on the perceived psychosocial safety climate of employees, and hence influences the causes of work stress. If the psychosocial safety climate is not considered and improved, it may reduce the quality of services and products, and increase accidents.

A Mixed-Methods Study of Creative Problem Solving and Psychosocial Safety Climate: Preparing Engineers for the Future of Work

The future of work is forcing the world to adjust to a new paradigm of working. New skills will be required to create and adopt new technology and working methods. Additionally, cognitive skills, particularly creative problem-solving, will be highly sought after. The future of work paradigm has threatened many occupations but bolstered others such as engineering. Engineers must keep up to date with the technological and cognitive demands brought on by the future of work. Using an exploratory mixed-methods approach, our study sought to make sense of how engineers understand and use creative problem solving. We found significant associations between engineers’ implicit knowledge of creativity, exemplified creative problem solving, and the perceived value of creativity. We considered that the work environment is a potential facilitator of creative problem-solving. We used an innovative exceptional cases analysis and found that the highest functioning engineers in terms of knowledge, skills, and perceived value of creativity, also reported working in places that facilitate psychosocially safe environments to support creativity. We propose a new theoretical framework for a creative environment by integrating the Four Ps (Person, Process, Product, and Press) and psychosocial safety climate theory that management could apply to facilitate creative problem solving. Through the acquisition of knowledge to engage in creative problem solving as individuals or a team, a perception of value must be present to enforce the benefit of creativity to the engineering role. The future of work paradigm requires that organisations provide an environment, a psychosocially safe climate, for engineers to grow and hone their sought-after skills that artificial technologies cannot currently replace.

How psychosocial safety climate (PSC) gets stronger over time: A first look at leadership and climate strength

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) reflects the priority an organization sets for the psychological health and safety of its employees, important to predict future job design and worker health. PSC is assessed by aggregating employee perceptions to determine PSC level (mean scores) and strength (converging perceptions). Theoretically, the ideal climate is when PSC is high and strong, yet we do not know how to build these fundamentals. Since team leaders may transmit and shape PSC as set down by senior management, we explore their role (i.e., PSC and transformational leadership) in increasing and converging PSC perceptions in a team. We used three-wave longitudinal data (6-month lags) from 49 team leaders and 281 Australian health care workers nested in 49 teams. Multilevel analysis showed that team PSC levels increased over time. Using the consensus emergence model, PSC strength was moderated by PSC leadership. Considering PSC starting levels, when low, high PSC leaders were associated with increasing PSC, but if starting levels were high, low PSC leaders were associated with decreasing PSC levels and strength while high PSC leaders were associated with sustaining PSC strength. Transformational leaders had smaller effects than PSC leaders on PSC levels and no effect on strength. Mid-leaders' values and actions for employee psychological health are important to build PSC level and sustain strength. In this, they can reinforce PSC certainty and its safety signal effect which is shown to be important for reducing psychological problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Building psychosocial safety climate in turbulent times: The case of COVID-19

Our theoretically driven cluster-randomized cohort control study sought to understand how psychosocial safety climate (PSC)-a climate to protect worker psychological health-could be built in different organizational change scenarios. We drew on event system theory to characterize change (planned vs. shock) as an event (observable, bounded in time and space, nonroutine) to understand how events connect and impact organizational behavior and features (e.g., job design, PSC). Event 1 was an 8-month planned intervention involving training middle managers to enact PSC in work units and reduce job stressors. Event 2 was the shock COVID-19 pandemic which occurred midintervention (at 4 months). Three waves (T1, 0 months; T2, 4 months; T3, 8 months) of data were collected from experimental (295T1, 224T2, 119T3) and control (236T1, 138T2, 83T3) employees across 22 work groups. Multilevel analysis showed in Event 1 (T1T2) a significant Group × Time effect where PSC (particularly management priority) significantly increased in the experimental versus control group. Under Event 2 (T2T3), PSC was maintained at higher levels in the experimental versus control group but both groups reported significantly increased PSC communication and commitment. Results suggest that middle management training increases PSC within 4 months. Event 2, COVID-19 was shocking and its novelty, disruption, criticality, and timing in Australian industrial history enabled a strong top management response, positively affecting the control group. PSC may be sustained and built in times of shock with top management will, the application of PSC principles, and a top-level pro-psychological health agenda. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Predicting new major depression symptoms from long working hours, psychosocial safety climate and work engagement: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to assess the association between long working hours, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), work engagement (WE) and new major depression symptoms emerging over the next 12 months. PSC is the work climate supporting workplace psychological health.

SETTING

Australian prospective cohort population data from the states of New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

At Time 1, there were 3921 respondents in the sample. Self-employed, casual temporary, unclassified, those with working hours <35 (37% of 2850) and participants with major depression symptoms at Time 1 (6.7% of 1782) were removed. The final sample was a population-based cohort of 1084 full-time Australian employees.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

The planned and measured outcomes were new cases of major depression symptoms.

RESULTS

Long working hours were not significantly related to new cases of major depression symptoms; however, when mild cases were removed, the 41-48 and ≥55 long working hour categories were positively related to major depression symptoms. Low PSC was associated with a threefold increase in risk for new major depression symptoms. PSC was not related to long working hours, and long working hours did not mediate the relationship between PSC and new cases of major depression symptoms. The inverse relationship between PSC and major depression symptoms was stronger for males than females. Additional analyses identified that WE was positively related to long working hours. Long working hours (41-48 and ≥55 hours) mediated a positive relationship between WE and major depression symptoms when mild cases of major depression were removed.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that low workplace PSC and potentially long working hours (41-48; ≥55 hours/week) increase the risk of new major depression symptoms. Furthermore, high WE may increase long working hours and subsequent major depression symptoms.

Benchmarks for Evidence-Based Risk Assessment with the Swedish Version of the 4-Item Psychosocial Safety Climate Scale

The purpose of the present study was to validate the short version of The Psychosocial Safety Climate questionnaire (PSC-4, Dollard, 2019) and to establish benchmarks indicating risk levels for use in Sweden. Cross-sectional data from (1) a random sample of employees in Sweden aged 25–65 years (n = 2847) and (2) a convenience sample of non-managerial employees from 94 workplaces (n = 3066) were analyzed. Benchmarks for three PSC risk levels were developed using organizational compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) regulations as criterion. The results support the validity and usefulness of the Swedish PSC-4 as an instrument to indicate good, fair, and poor OSH practices. The recommended benchmark for indicating good OSH practices is an average score of >12.0, while the proposed cutoff for poor OSH practices is a score of ≤8.0 on the PSC-4. Scores between these benchmarks indicate fair OSH practices. Furthermore, aggregated data on PSC-4 supported its reliability as a workplace level construct and its association with quantitative demands, quality of leadership, commitment to the workplace, work engagement, job satisfaction, as well as stress and burnout. Thus, the Swedish version of PSC-4 can be regarded as a valid and reliable measure for both research and practical use for risk assessment at workplaces.

Effect of psychosocial safety climate on psychological distress via job resources, work engagement and workaholism: a multilevel longitudinal study

Objective. Our innovation was to propose a multilevel model to explain how an organizational factor, psychosocial safety climate (PSC) - the climate for worker psychological health - related to work investment (work engagement and workaholism) and, in turn, psychological distress. Methods. Longitudinal data were collected in Peninsular Malaysia across 26 police departments from 392 police personnel, matched across 4 months, and were tested using hierarchical linear modeling. Results. The analysis revealed between-group effects linking PSC to job resources, to work engagement and to workaholism. When PSC operated by improving job resources, aside from increased work engagement, it could unwittingly boost workaholism. However, this only existed under low PSC conditions. The secondary function of PSC buffered the impact of job resources on workaholism and psychological distress. When PSC was high, job resources reduced both workaholism and psychological distress, suggesting that PSC enabled resources to do their job of mitigating unfavorable conditions. Conclusions. Results support a multilevel PSC-extended job demands-resources motivational path with cross-links, and PSC's moderation function, as an explanation of worker psychological health. Confirming PSC as a leading indicator and the importance of a motivational path, this article presents new evidence in support of targeting PSC to improve worker psychological health.

The dynamic interplay of physical and psychosocial safety climates in frontline healthcare

Little is known about how safety climates concerning physical safety and psychosocial safety interact in the prediction of working conditions and subsequent worker health. Frontline healthcare was selected as the setting for this study on the dynamic interplay between physical and psychosocial safety climates because of a recent call for attention to working conditions in this industry. Poor safety climates for healthcare workers spill over into adverse outcomes for worker health, and when workers are compromised, then so too is their provision of quality patient care. We developed an integrated model of the relationships between psychosocial and physical safety climates, working conditions, and health and safety outcomes. A multilevel model was tested (N = 463 workers nested within n = 60 teams), and lagged analysis was conducted across four time points, each 6 months apart. The combination of safety climates significantly predict objective outcomes from hospital safety system records on staff accidents, absence, and patient incidents (quality of care), suggesting a dynamic interplay in the prediction of impacts on the worker, organization, and end-user. Integrated physical and psychosocial safety climate measures can be incorporated into hospital occupational health and safety reporting and response systems as effective lead indicators and key performance metrics for work health and safety.

Resource Crafting: Is It Really 'Resource' Crafting-Or Just Crafting?

This study aims to provide an integrated perspective on job crafting and its antecedents through the exploration of the joint effects of individual-level and team-level job crafting on employee work engagement. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that engaging in job crafting behaviors is promoted by the presence of job-related resources. In turn, job crafting is expected to result in higher levels of work engagement. We expect this reasoning to hold for the individual as well as the team/collective levels. The hypotheses were tested using data from 287 medical professionals from 21 hospital units of a Chinese public hospital. Findings from two-level Bayesian structural equation modeling supported the idea that at the individual level, individual job crafting behaviors partially mediated the relationship from individual resources to individual work engagement. Further, collective crafting mediated the relationship from team resources to individual work engagement. In addition, a positive cross-level relation between collective crafting and individual crafting was found. We conclude that stimulated by resources, both job crafting processes at the individual-level and team-level can promote individual work engagement in Chinese employees.

Benchmarking working conditions for health and safety in the frontline healthcare industry: Perspectives from Australia and Malaysia

AIM

To present benchmarks for working conditions in healthcare industries as an initial effort into international surveillance.

BACKGROUND

The healthcare industry is fundamental to sustaining the health of Australians, yet it is under immense pressure. Budgets are limited, demands are increasing as are workplace injuries and all of these factors compromise patient care. Urgent attention is needed to reduce strains on workers and costs in health care, however, little work has been done to benchmark psychosocial factors in healthcare working conditions in the Asia-Pacific. Intercultural comparisons are important to provide an evidence base for public policy.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional design was used (like other studies of prevalence), including a mixed-methods approach with qualitative interviews to better contextualize the results.

METHODS

Data on psychosocial factors and other work variables were collected from healthcare workers in three hospitals in Australia (N = 1,258) and Malaysia (N = 1,125). 2015 benchmarks were calculated for each variable and comparison was conducted via independent samples t tests. Healthcare samples were also compared with benchmarks for non-healthcare general working populations from their respective countries: Australia (N = 973) and Malaysia (N = 225).

FINDINGS

Our study benchmarks healthcare working conditions in Australia and Malaysia against the general working population, identifying trends that indicate the industry is in need of intervention strategies and job redesign initiatives that better support psychological health and safety.

CONCLUSION

We move toward a better understanding of the precursors of psychosocial safety climate in a broader context, including similarities and differences between Australia and Malaysia in national culture, government occupational health and safety policies and top-level management practices.

Predicting Circulatory Diseases from Psychosocial Safety Climate: A Prospective Cohort Study from Australia

Circulatory diseases (CDs) (including myocardial infarction, angina, stroke or hypertension) are among the leading causes of death in the world. In this paper, we explore for the first time the impact of a specific aspect of organizational climate, Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC), on CDs. We used two waves of interview data from Australia, with an average lag of 5 years (excluding baseline CDs, final n = 1223). Logistic regression was conducted to estimate the prospective associations between PSC at baseline on incident CDs at follow-up. It was found that participants in low PSC environments were 59% more likely to develop new CD than those in high PSC environments. Logistic regression showed that high PSC at baseline predicts lower CD risk at follow-up (OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.96–1.00) and this risk remained unchanged even after additional adjustment for known job design risk factors (effort reward imbalance and job strain). These results suggest that PSC is an independent risk factor for CDs in Australia. Beyond job design this study implicates organizational climate and prevailing management values regarding worker psychological health as the genesis of CDs.

Should psychosocial safety climate theory be extended to include climate strength?

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC; climate for psychological health) is an organizational antecedent to work conditions articulated in the job demands-resources model. We responded to calls for broader consideration of organizational climate in terms of both climate level and strength. We tested PSC level and strength as main and interactive predictors of work conditions, psychological health, and engagement. Using multilevel analysis and cross-sectional data, the effects of unit-level PSC constructs were investigated in 21 hospital work units (n = 249 employees) in Australia. The correlation between PSC levels (measured at the unit mean) and PSC strength (measured as unit -1 × SD) was moderate and positive, suggesting that ceiling effects of PSC scores were not problematic. PSC level was a better predictor than PSC strength or their interactions for job demands (psychological and emotional demands), job resources (e.g., skill discretion and organizational support), and health (emotional exhaustion). For engagement, the interaction was significant-improving engagement, therefore, benefits from high levels of PSC and PSC strength within the work units. So, in answer to the research question regarding PSC theory extension, "it depends on the outcome." Research limitations are acknowledged, and the potential of the PSC model to guide the reduction of workplace psychosocial risk factors and the negative consequences is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

An Integrated Model of Work–Study Conflict and Work–Study Facilitation

The rise in working university students is a global phenomenon with more than half of the student population working while studying at university. Within this trend of dual participation, working students face unique stressors such as work–study conflict and facilitation. Work–study conflict drives students’ poor health, whereas work–study facilitation drives positive academic outcomes. In this article, we review and critique several work–study interface models proposed to explain the development and consequences of these stressors. The review uncovers important omissions and limitations of the models, reducing their utility and generalizability. Therefore, we propose a new work-to-study model, which addresses the omissions of the previous models. The work-to-study model builds on the current literature and models and integrates psychosocial safety climate theory, as it relates to the extended job demands–resources model to advance our understanding of the development and consequences of work–study conflict and facilitation.

Associations between work stress and suicidal ideation: Individual-participant data from six cross-sectional studies

OBJECTIVE

Epidemiological evidence suggests that work stress is associated with suicidal ideation (SI). However, only few studies in this area have drawn on well-established theoretical work stress models (i.e., the job-demand-control [JDC] model, the effort-reward-imbalance [ERI] model, and the model of organizational injustice [OJ]). Utilization of such models allows though for theory-based assessments and workplace interventions. Since evidence on those models' relationship with suicide-related outcomes is currently inconclusive (with regard to JDC), markedly sparse (OJ) or lacking (ERI), we aimed to provide additional or initial evidence.

METHODS

We drew on original data from six cross-sectional studies, which were conducted in four countries (i.e., South Korea, China, Australia, and Germany). Work stress was measured by established questionnaires and was categorized into tertiles. In each study, SI was assessed by either one or two items taken from validated scales. Associations of work stress with SI were estimated for each study and were pooled across studies using multivariate random-effects logistic modeling.

RESULTS

In the pooled analyses (n=12,422) all three work stress models were significantly associated with SI with odds ratios fluctuating around 2. For instance, the pooled odds ratios for highest versus lowest work stress exposure in terms of job strain, OJ, and ERI equalled 1.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.52, 2.41), 1.98 (95% CI=1.48, 2.65), and 2.77 (95% CI=1.57, 4.88), respectively. Patterns of associations were largely consistent across the individual studies.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides robust evidence of a positive association between work stress and SI.

Enhanced Co-Worker Social Support in Isolated Work Groups and Its Mitigating Role on the Work-Family Conflict-Depression Loss Spiral

This paper examines a loss spiral model (i.e., reciprocal relationships) between work-family conflict and depression, moderated by co-worker support. We expected that the moderation effect due to co-worker support would be evident among those working in isolation (i.e., mining workers) due to a greater level of intragroup attraction and saliency attributable to the proximity effects. We used a two wave panel study and data from a random population sample of Australian employees (n = 2793, [n = 112 mining, n = 2681 non-mining]). Using structural equation modelling we tested the reciprocal three way interaction effects. In line with our theory, co-worker support buffered the reciprocal relationship between WFC and depression, showing a protective effect in both pathways. These moderation effects were found in the mining industry only suggesting a proximity component moderates the social support buffer hypothesis (i.e., a three way interaction effect). The present paper integrates previous theoretical perspectives of stress and support, and provides insight into the changing dynamics of workplace relationships.

A national standard for psychosocial safety climate (PSC): PSC 41 as the benchmark for low risk of job strain and depressive symptoms

Despite decades of research from around the world now permeating occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation and guidelines, there remains a lack of tools to guide practice. Our main goal was to establish benchmark levels of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) that would signify risk of job strain (jobs with high demands and low control) and depression in organizations. First, to justify our focus on PSC, using interview data from Australian employees matched at 2 time points 12 months apart (n = 1081), we verified PSC as a significant leading predictor of job strain and in turn depression. Next, using 2 additional data sets (n = 2097 and n = 1043) we determined benchmarks of organizational PSC (range 12-60) for low-risk (PSC at 41 or above) and high-risk (PSC at 37 or below) of employee job strain and depressive symptoms. Finally, using the newly created benchmarks we estimated the population attributable risk (PAR) and found that improving PSC in organizations to above 37 could reduce 14% of job strain and 16% of depressive symptoms in the working population. The results provide national standards that organizations and regulatory agencies can utilize to promote safer working environments and lower the risk of harm to employee mental health.

Psychosocial safety climate, emotional demands, burnout, and depression: a longitudinal multilevel study in the Malaysian private sector

This multilevel longitudinal study investigates a newly identified climate construct, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), as a precursor to job characteristics (e.g., emotional demands), and psychological outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion and depression). We argued that PSC, as an organizational climate construct, has cross-level effects on individually perceived job design and psychological outcomes. We hypothesized a mediation process between PSC and emotional exhaustion particularly through emotional demands. In sequence, we predicted that emotional exhaustion would predict depression. At Time 1, data were collected from employees in 36 Malaysian private sector organizations (80% responses rate), n = 253 (56%), and at Time 2 from 27 organizations (60%) and n = 117 (46%). Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we found that there were cross-level effects of PSC Time 1 on emotional demands Time 2 and emotional exhaustion Time 2, but not on depression Time 2, across a 3-month time lag. We found evidence for a lagged mediated effect; emotional demands mediated the relationship between PSC and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion did not predict depression. Finally, our results suggest that PSC is an important organizational climate construct, and acts to reduce employee psychological problems in the workplace, via working conditions.

Trait anxiety, work demand, social support and psychological distress in correctional officers

Abstract This study examined the role of social support in the relationship between work demand and psychological distress (GHQ 12) in correctional officers (N=419), a high stress occupational group. Work demands were positively associated with strain. There was no evidence that social support buffered the negative impact of work demands. Rather, consistent with most previous research findings, support showed direct benefits and these were discussed in the context of worker participation and control. The hypothesis that officers high in negative affectivity, as measured by trait anxiety would show greater reactivity to work demands was not supported. However, trait anxiety appeared to inflate the relationship between work stressors (work demand and work support) and psychological distress supporting recent suggestions that the role of trait anxiety in occupational stress should not be disregarded. Trait anxiety combined additively with work demand to predict individual differences in psychological distress, however social support moderated the impact of trait anxiety on strain.

Psychosocial safety climate buffers effects of job demands on depression and positive organizational behaviors

In a general population sample of 2343 Australian workers from a wide ranging employment demographic, we extended research testing the buffering role of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) as a macro-level resource within the health impairment process of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. Moderated structural equation modeling was used to test PSC as a moderator between emotional and psychological job demands and worker depression compared with control and social support as alternative moderators. We also tested PSC as a moderator between depression and positive organizational behaviors (POB; engagement and job satisfaction) compared with control and social support as moderators. As expected we found PSC moderated the effects of job demands on depression and further moderated the effects of depression on POB with fit to the data that was as good as control and social support as moderators. This study has shown that PSC is a macro-level resource and safety signal for workers acting to reduce demand-induced depression. We conclude that organizations need to focus on the development of a robust PSC that will operate to buffer the effects of workplace psychosocial hazards and to build environments conducive to worker psychological health and positive organizational behaviors.

Empowering leaders optimize working conditions for engagement: a multilevel study

Using a multilevel framework, this study examined the role of empowering leadership at the group level by fire brigade captains in facilitating the individual level motivational processes that underpin work engagement in volunteer firefighters. Anonymous mail surveys were completed by 540 volunteer firefighters from 68 fire brigades and, separately, by 68 brigade captains. As predicted on the basis of the Job Demands-Resources model, increased levels of cognitive demands and cognitive resources partially mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and work engagement. In a three-way Leadership × Demands × Resources interaction, empowering leadership also had the effect of optimizing working conditions for engagement by strengthening the positive effect of a work context in which both cognitive demands and cognitive resources were high. Our findings shed light on a process through which leaders can empower workers and enhance well-being: via their influence on and interaction with the work environment. They also underscore the need to examine work engagement from a multilevel theoretical perspective.

Psychosocial safety climate moderates the job demand-resource interaction in predicting workgroup distress

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) arises from workplace policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety that are largely driven by management. Many work stress theories are based on the fundamental interaction hypothesis - that a high level of job demands (D) will lead to psychological distress and that this relationship will be offset when there are high job resources (R). However we proposed that this interaction really depends on the organizational context; in particular high levels of psychosocial safety climate will enable the safe utilization of resources to reduce demands. The study sample consisted of police constables from 23 police units (stations) with longitudinal survey responses at two time points separated by 14 months (Time 1, N=319, Time 2, N=139). We used hierarchical linear modeling to assess the effect of the proposed three-way interaction term (PSC×D×R) on change in workgroup distress variance over time. Specifically we confirmed the interaction between emotional demands and emotional resources (assessed at the individual level), in the context of unit psychosocial safety climate (aggregated individual data). As predicted, high emotional resources moderated the positive relationship between emotional demands and change in workgroup distress but only when there were high levels of unit psychosocial safety climate. Results were confirmed using a split-sample analysis. Results support psychosocial safety climate as a property of the organization and a target for higher order controls for reducing work stress. The 'right' climate enables resources to do their job.

Psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of workplace bullying and harassment, job resources, psychological health and employee engagement

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is defined as shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety, that stem largely from management practices. PSC theory extends the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and proposes that organizational level PSC determines work conditions and subsequently, psychological health problems and work engagement. Our sample was derived from the Australian Workplace Barometer project and comprised 30 organizations, and 220 employees. As expected, hierarchical linear modeling showed that organizational PSC was negatively associated with workplace bullying and harassment (demands) and in turn psychological health problems (health impairment path). PSC was also positively associated with work rewards (resources) and in turn work engagement (motivational path). Accordingly, we found that PSC triggered both the health impairment and motivational pathways, thus justifying extending the JD-R model in a multilevel way. Further we found that PSC, as an organization-based resource, moderated the positive relationship between bullying/harassment and psychological health problems, and the negative relationship between bullying/harassment and engagement. The findings provide evidence for a multilevel model of PSC as a lead indicator of workplace psychosocial hazards (high demands, low resources), psychological health and employee engagement, and as a potential moderator of psychosocial hazard effects. PSC is therefore an efficient target for primary and secondary intervention.

Job Characteristics: What Can We Learn From the East?

Since being introduced in 2000, the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2000) has been studied extensively in various Western countries. Although the JD-R proposition is not proscriptive about specific demands and resource variables, scholars have used common variables as demands (e.g. workloads, deadlines), and as resources (e.g. support). The question is whether the common variables in the JD-R model that had their origins in Western formulations are applicable in developing countries. In this paper, based on grounded theory, we conducted focus group interviews to investigate specific variables that may apply in Malaysian workplaces. Two focus group interviews (N=13) were conducted with two groups of respondents (managers and non-managers) who worked for private and public sector organizations. Data were analysed using a thematic content analysis strategy. The study found that new variables (e.g. organizational politics, bureaucratic factors) emerged as new demands not generally explored in JD-R research, whereas similar demands were identified at a job-task level (e.g. deadlines). Regarding resources these were mainly identified as in other Western research (e.g. support). Job challenge and exploring new things were identified as pleasurable aspects of work. This finding suggests that using qualitative methods is crucial to exploring the psychosocial concept of stress at work to uncover cultural differences that are apparent between Malaysian and Western employees . Keywords: Job demands, job resources, qualitative studies, job stress, JD-R.

Integrating psychosocial safety climate in the JD-R model: A study amongst Malaysian workers

Orientation: Job characteristics are well accepted as sources of burnout and engagement amongst employees; psychosocial safety climate may precede work conditions.Research purpose: We expanded the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) model by proposing psychosocial safety climate (PSC) as a precursor to job demands and job resources. As PSC theoretically influences the working environment, the study hypothesized that PSC has an impact on performance via both health erosion (i.e. burnout) and motivational pathways (i.e. work engagement).Motivation for the study: So far, integration of PSC in the JD-R model is only tested in a Western context (i.e. Australia). We tested the emerging construct of PSC in Malaysia, an Eastern developing country in the Asian region.Research design, approach and method: A random population based sample was derived using household maps provided by Department of Statistics, Malaysia; 291 employees (response rate 50.52%) from the State of Selangor, Malaysia participated. Cross-sectional data were analysed using structural equation modelling.Main findings: We found that PSC was negatively related to job demands and positively related to job resources. Job demands, in turn, predicted burnout (i.e. exhaustion and cynicism), whereas job resources predicted engagement. Both burnout and engagement were associated with performance. Bootstrapping showed significant indirect effects of PSC on burnout via job demands, PSC on performance via burnout and PSC on performance via the resources-engagement pathway.Practical/managerial implications: Our findings are consistent with previous research that suggests that PSC should be a target to improve working conditions and in turn reduce burnout and improve engagement and productivity.Contribution/value-add: These findings suggest that JD-R theory may be expanded to include PSC as an antecedent and that the expanded JD-R model is largely valid in an Eastern, developing economy setting.