Prosocial and proactive “safety citizenship behaviour” (SCB): The mediating role of affective commitment and psychological ownership

Abstract

Safety citizenship behaviour (SCB) is an important participation factor in work-groups. Our study aims to study the influence of some antecedents of this safety-specific dimension of organizational citizenship. In the light of the current research stream that distinguishes between prosocial vs. proactive forms of organizational citizenship, we will investigate the effects of the following variables: organizational support for safety participation; team safety climate; psychological ownership toward the management of safety; affective commitment toward the organization. The research was conducted in a multinational chemical industry (N = 314). Prosocial oriented forms of SCB (safety stewardship) were mainly related to the influence of affective dimensions of organizational belongingness (affective commitment). On the other hand, proactive oriented forms of SCB (safety voice) showed higher linkages with the internalization of safety promotion instances (psychological ownership). The conclusions of the article include conceptual implications for academic research and managerial practice. The aim of this is to support a broader safety citizenship orientation by the workforce in the management of safety related instances in the workplace.

Proactivity towards workplace safety improvement: an investigation of its motivational drivers and organizational outcomes

“…Similarly, a recent study by Curcuruto & Griffin (2018) on safety citizenship behaviours (SCBs) showed that psychological ownership predicted a change-oriented typology of SCB like safety voice, whereas affective commitment affected an affiliative oriented form of SCB like stewardship. The authors suggested that, in the same way that task performance and citizenship can be considered as having more or less proactive forms, SCBs can also be more or less proactive, and be directed both to other people and to the organization itself.…”

“…Specifically, we predict that self-reported safety compliance will predict external ratings of employees' engagement in legally mandated reporting of risks, hazards, property damages, omission and violations. We also suggest that affiliative forms of safety citizenship behaviour (SCB) -like safety helping -are intrinsically aimed both at protecting other people and at supporting the standard organizational effectiveness Curcuruto & Griffin, 2018). Therefore, we expect that self-reported safety helping will be associated with employees' engagement in prescribed reporting as mandatory by safety regulation systems.…”

“…Individuals who engage in affiliative SCBs care about the health and well-being of their colleagues (Conchie, 2013;Curcuruto et al, 2015;Curcuruto & Griffin, 2018) and thus will be prosocially motivated to report risks and hazards that could be harmful to them or others.…”

“…From a social-exchange perspective, safety helping can be a way to reciprocate high positive relationships with the organizations and supervisors who show they care for their employees (Curcuruto & Griffin, 2018;Hofmann et al, 2003;Mearns & Reader, 2008;Zohar, 2002). In the broader literature on work performance (Zeidan, 2006) and organizational citizenship (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000), affective commitment has been shown to predict forms of citizenship considered prosocial or affiliation-oriented, like altruism and supportive behaviours (Belschak & Den Hartog, 2010;Carmeli & Colakoglu, 2005;Curcuruto & Griffin, 2018;Shore & Wayne, 1993;Vogus, Rothman, Sutcliffe, & Weick, 2014). We thus also hypothesize:…”

“…The lack of clarity in concepts and measures among safety behaviours is likely to obscure important differences (Curcuruto, Conchie, Mariani, & Violante 2015;Curcuruto & Griffin, 2018). For example, in the domain of work performance, scholars have demonstrated that affiliative forms of citizenship and compliant forms of task performance are distinct from more change-oriented forms (e.g.…”