Association of risk exposure, organizational identification, and empowerment, with safety participation, intention to quit, and absenteeism

Abstract

Occupational safety is an important topic within organizational psychology research, with exposure to a variety of risks likely to influence a number of psychosocial and physical outcomes. Research has addressed the relationship that organizational safety has with the psychological constructs of organizational identification (OID), and empowerment. This study used work-related risks, OID, and empowerment, as predictors of organizational outcomes: safety participation, reported intention to quit, and absenteeism, on a sample of 205 managerial employees from an Australian transport and logistics organization. Ford and Tetrick’s (2011) workplace safety model was extended to examine the moderating effects of perceived supervisor safety practices, and physical and psychosocial safety climates on the relationship between OID, empowerment, and organizational outcomes. While OID and supervisor safety practices (negatively) predicted intention to quit, risk exposure, OID, supervisor safety practices, and safety climate predicted safety participation. However, absenteeism was only predicted by empowerment (impact). The higher an employee’s workplace empowerment, combined with the more positively they rated their supervisor’s safety practices, predicted increased safety participation in the workplace, highlighting a moderating effect. A revised model described relationships between contextual, organizational safety, and psychological variables. Results provided a foundation for further research into relationships between workplace risks, psychological variables, safety factors, and organizational outcomes.