A group-level model of safety climate: Testing the effect of group climate on microaccidents in manufacturing jobs.

Abstract

This article presents and tests a group-level model of safety climate to supplement the available organization-level model. Climate perceptions in this case are related to supervisory safety practices rather than to company policies and procedures. The study included 53 work groups in a single manufacturing company. Safety climate perceptions, measured with a newly developed scale, revealed both within-group homogeneity and between-groups variation. Predictive validity was measured with a new outcome measure, microaccidents, that refers to behavior-dependent on-the-job minor injuries requiring medical attention. Climate perceptions significantly predicted microaccident records during the 5-month recording period that followed climate measurement, when the effects of group- and individual-level risk factors were controlled. The study establishes an empirical link between safety climate perceptions and objective injury data.

Cites (11)

1. Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability.
   Shrout, Patrick E., Fleiss, Joseph L. · 1979 · Psychological Bulletin
2. Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of Empirical and Theoretical Research
   1988 · Advances in Psychology
3. The critical incident technique.
   Flanagan, John C. · 1954 · Psychological Bulletin
4. Human Error
   Reason, James · 1990
5. Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias
   James, Lawrence R., Demaree, Robert G., Wolf, Gerrit · 1984 · Journal of Applied Psychology
6. A Relational Model of Authority in Groups
   Tyler, Tom R., Lind, E. Allan · 1992 · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
7. A Framework for the Comparative Analysis of Organizations
   Perrow, Charles · 1967 · American Sociological Review
8. rwg: an assessment of within-group interrater agreement
   James, Lawrence R., Demaree, Robert G., Wolf, Gerrit · 1993 · Journal of Applied Psychology
9. Aggregation bias in estimates of perceptual agreement.
   James, Lawrence R. · 1982 · Journal of Applied Psychology
10. Levels issues in theory development, data collection and analysis
    Klein, Katherine J., Dansereau, Fred, Hall, Rosalie J. · 1994 · The Academy of Management Review

Show all 11 references

Cited by (26)

1. Understanding HRM–Firm Performance Linkages: The Role of the “Strength” of the HRM System
   Bowen, David E., Ostroff, Cheri · 2004 · Academy of Management Review
2. Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams
   Kozlowski, Steve W.J., Ilgen, Daniel R. · 2006 · Psychological Science in the Public Interest
3. EMPLOYEE ATTRIBUTIONS OF THE “WHY” OF HR PRACTICES: THEIR EFFECTS ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS, AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
   NISHII, LISA H., LEPAK, DAVID P., SCHNEIDER, BENJAMIN · 2008 · Personnel Psychology
4. The Benefits of Climate for Inclusion for Gender-Diverse Groups
   Nishii, Lisa H. · 2013 · Academy of Management Journal
5. Development and test of a model linking safety-specific transformational leadership and occupational safety.
   Julian I. Barling, Catherine A. Loughlin, E. Kevin Kelloway · 2002 · Journal of Applied Psychology

See all 1,497