Commitment vs. Control-based Safety Practices, Safety Réputation, and Perceived Safety Climate

Abstract We investigated the extent to which commitment versus control-based safety practices and occupational safety reputation influence perceived safety climate. Both these variables were manipulated experimentally using a vignette approach, creating a 2 X 2 design (safety practices vs. safety reputation). We hypothesized that any effects of safety practices would be direct, as well as mediated by trust in management and affective commitment, while the effects of safety reputation would only be direct. We also expected that the interaction of safety reputation and safety practices would yield stronger effects than either of the variables operating individually There was substantial support for the direct and indirect effects of safety practices. In contrast, safety reputation exerted neither direct nor indirect effects. There were no significant interactions. We suggest directions for further research on the optimal management of occupational safety. Resume Nous avons etudie l'ampleur avec laquelle les pratiques de securite, centrees sur l'engagement comparativement d celles centrees sur le controle, et la reputation de securite au travail influencent la perception du climat de securite. Ces deux variables ont ete manipulees experimentalement par l'utilisation dune vignette, en creant un modele 2 x 2 (pratiques de securite par rapport a reputation de securite). Nous avons pose l'hypothese que les pratiques de securite entrainaient, en plus des effets directs, des effets indirects grace a la confiance envers les gestionnaires et l'engagement affectif, alors que la reputation de securite n'avait que des effets directs. Nous avons aussi envisage que l'interaction de la reputation de securite et des pratiques de securite produisait un effet plus marque que chacune des deux variables operant separement. Nos resultats ont largement corrobore l'hypothese relative aux effets directs et indirects des pratiques de securite ; par contre, il s'est avere que la reputation de securite n'avait ni effet direct ni indirect. Par ailleurs, il n'y avait aucune interaction significative. Nous proposons aussi quelques lignes directrices pour de nouvelles recherches sur la gestion optimale de la securite au travail. Workplace safety is an issue of considerable importance for several reasons. First, deaths from occupational injuries remain unacceptably high. Second, legislation across jurisdictions requires managers to ensure that work is performed in a safe manner (e.g., Cooper, Phillips, Sutherland, & Makin, 1994). Third, the recent increase in the number of contract workers has been associated with an increase in incidents and injuries (Kochan, Smith, Wells, & Rebitzer, 1994). Fourth, workers cite occupational safety and health as one of their primary concerns (Waldman, de la Pena, Springen, Howard, & Smith, 1989). Despite this, occupational safety remains one of the least studied phenomena in organizational behaviour, with estimates suggesting it represents less than 1% of the total amount of research (Campbell, Daft, & Hulin, 1982). The present study is one attempt to understand the effects of different safety approaches to managing occupational safety and the organization's safety reputation on perceived safety climate. Traditionally, safety issues have been managed from one of two perspectives, that of ergonomics which emphasizes the optimal design of equipment or that of the law, which focuses on enforcement, typically of government-imposed standards. Possibly the most frequent managerial method used to ensure occupational health and safety emphasizes compliance and enforcement of rules, together with punishment for infractions, and/or goal-setting and rewards for achieving predetermined goals (Cooper et al., 1994; Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, Cardy, & Dimick, 1997; Montgomery, 1996). All these approaches are consistent with a control-based orientation toward human resource management (Arthur, 1994; Walton, 1985), the goal of which is to attain greater efficiency and compliance or reduce costs, through punishment or rewards on the basis of specific, quantifiable outcomes. …