TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking safety knowledge to safety behaviours
T2 - a moderated mediation of supervisor and worker safety attitudes
AU - Kao, Kuo-Yang
AU - Spitzmueller, Christiane
AU - Cigularov, Konstantin
AU - Thomas, Candice L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/3/4
Y1 - 2019/3/4
N2 - The thousands of deaths and disabilities due to workplace accidents and injuries each year emphasize the importance of safety research. Despite occupational safety research that has contributed to identifying antecedents of safety, little is known about why and how safety knowledge leads to safety behaviours and how personal and situational factors interact to promote occupational safety. Using a multilevel, multisource, and time-lagged research design, the present study investigates whether safety knowledge affects safety behaviours through safety attitudes and further tests whether supervisory safety attitudes can impact the strength of these relationships and play a role as moderators of the proposed mediated relationship. Data were collected from workers (N = 177) and supervisors (N = 42) in a construction company in the energy industry at two time points. Results indicate full support for the moderated mediation model, demonstrating that worker safety attitudes partially mediate the relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours. Moreover, when supervisors had positive attitudes towards safety, both the direct relationship between worker safety attitudes and safety behaviours and the indirect relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours were more positive compared to when supervisors had negative safety attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications for occupational safety are discussed.
AB - The thousands of deaths and disabilities due to workplace accidents and injuries each year emphasize the importance of safety research. Despite occupational safety research that has contributed to identifying antecedents of safety, little is known about why and how safety knowledge leads to safety behaviours and how personal and situational factors interact to promote occupational safety. Using a multilevel, multisource, and time-lagged research design, the present study investigates whether safety knowledge affects safety behaviours through safety attitudes and further tests whether supervisory safety attitudes can impact the strength of these relationships and play a role as moderators of the proposed mediated relationship. Data were collected from workers (N = 177) and supervisors (N = 42) in a construction company in the energy industry at two time points. Results indicate full support for the moderated mediation model, demonstrating that worker safety attitudes partially mediate the relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours. Moreover, when supervisors had positive attitudes towards safety, both the direct relationship between worker safety attitudes and safety behaviours and the indirect relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours were more positive compared to when supervisors had negative safety attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications for occupational safety are discussed.
KW - Occupational safety
KW - safety attitude
KW - safety behaviour
KW - safety knowledge
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060483414&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1359432X.2019.1567492
DO - 10.1080/1359432X.2019.1567492
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060483414
SN - 1359-432X
VL - 28
SP - 206
EP - 220
JO - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
JF - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
IS - 2
ER -