The impact of leadership on the psychosocial safety climate of organizations: A scoping review of the international literature

Abstract

Growing evidence suggests that work-related psychological injuries are a concern worldwide. While previous efforts to address psychological injuries mainly focused on the individual level of analysis, psychosocial safety climate (PSC) theory emphasizes the analysis and prevention of psychological injuries at the organizational level. While there is abundant evidence of the impact of leadership on other climate constructs, scant attention has been paid to the impact of leadership on PSC. This study is a scoping review of the extant literature to determine the state of the discipline in relation to the impact of leadership on the psychosocial safety climate of organizations. Three databases were searched, supplemented by a pearling exercise and Google Scholar searches, which yielded 14 studies that met selection criteria. Our study shows that while much work has been done in relation to the behavior of managers and organizational infrastructure to yield high levels of PSC, there is a dearth of studies on the impact of specific leadership styles on the PSC of organizations. We recommend further studies of leadership, especially the impact of post-heroic leadership styles, on the psychosocial safety climate of workplaces.

Preventing workplace mistreatment and improving workers’ mental health: a scoping review of the impact of psychosocial safety climate

“…Furthermore, it is indicated that the adverse association between workplace bullying, harassment, and psychological well-being is attenuated when workers perceive high PSC [ 11 ]. Thus, PSC has the capacity to reduce the impact of workplace bullying on post-traumatic disorder and work engagement [ 12 , 44 ] Kwan et al [ 39 ] revealed that the positive association between bullying and neglect is diminished when a high PSC is perceived by workers. Moreover, PSC moderates the associations between role conflict and workplace bullying [ 17 ], role ambiguity and workplace bullying [ 17 ] and stigma and workplace bullying [ 15 ].…”

“…Organisations and managers need to cultivate a supportive leadership style that emphasise open and bottom-up communication, approachability, and empathy towards workers [ 44 ]. Building positive relationships with workers and demonstrating genuine care is enhance PSC which contributes to creating a healthy and decent work environment where the psychological well-being of workers is prioritised.…”