FORSCHUNGSKOLLOQUIUM DES PSYCHOLOGISCHEN INSTITUTS
Das Psychologische Institut und das Studium generale laden zu folgendem Gastvortrag ein:
Prof. Dr. Maureen F. Dollard
(University of South Australia)
Psychosocial Safety Climate. Longitudinal Impacts on Health, Engagement and Sickness Absence
(Vortrag in englischer Sprache)
Dienstag, 29. Januar 2008, 16.15 Uhr, Raum 02-122
Psychologisches Institut, Staudingerweg 9
This paper argues that psychosocial safety climate is a fundamental feature of the organisational context, which is a precursor to worker health and important work outcomes. Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is defined as ‘work perceptions regarding the organization’s philosophy, values and practices towards protection of the psychological and physical health of employees’. Drawing on theory and evidence from the work stress intervention literature, the work reorganisational literature, safety culture literature, multi-factorial OHS models, and Job Demand-Resource theory, we predicted that PSC as an upstream organisational level resource would presage the work context which would in turn predict health and work outcomes.
Using structural equation modelling, after accounting for baseline outcome measures, data from 193 public sector workers showed that psychosocial safety climate predicts work resources, health, work outcomes (engagement) and objective sickness absence over an 8 month period. Consistent with the health erosion hypothesis we found that PSC predicted health problems (higher psychological distress, GHQ-12; emotional exhaustion, physical health symptoms) which were in turn associated with sickness absence. Consistent with the motivational hypothesis we found that PSC predicts sickness absence mediated by work engagement, and partially mediated by job control. Cross-links were found from work engagement to health problems. The results show that the PSC construct is a fundamentally important component of work stress theory.