We propose that interdependence in a work context determines to what extent work roles are embedded within a broader social system and, further, that uncertainty determines whether work roles can be formalized or whether they emerge through adaptive and proactive behavior. Cross-classification of task, team member, and organization member behaviors with proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity produced nine subdimensions of work role performance. Ratings from 491 supervisors from 32 organizations and self-ratings from employees in two organizations (n's ‫؍‬ 1,228 and 927) supported the proposed distinctions. Self-reports of proactivity were positively correlated with two external measures of proactivity.

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Research in the areas of organizational climate and work performance was used to develop a framework for measuring perceptions of safety at work. The framework distinguished perceptions of the work environment from perceptions of performance related to safety. Two studies supported application of the framework to employee perceptions of safety in the workplace. Safety compliance and safety participation were distinguished as separate components of safety-related performance. Perceptions of knowledge about safety and motivation to perform safely influenced individual reports of safety performance and also mediated the link between safety climate and safety performance. Specific dimensions of safety climate were identified and constituted a higher order safety climate factor. The results support conceptualizing safety climate as an antecedent to safety performance in organizations.

The authors measured perceptions of safety climate, motivation, and behavior at 2 time points and linked them to prior and subsequent levels of accidents over a 5-year period. A series of analyses examined the effects of top-down and bottom-up processes operating simultaneously over time. In terms of top-down effects, average levels of safety climate within groups at 1 point in time predicted subsequent changes in individual safety motivation. Individual safety motivation, in turn, was associated with subsequent changes in self-reported safety behavior. In terms of bottom-up effects, improvements in the average level of safety behavior within groups were associated with a subsequent reduction in accidents at the group level. The results contribute to an understanding of the factors influencing workplace safety and the levels and lags at which these effects operate.

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