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Key Objectives
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AWB Sampling Approach
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Theoretical Background and Research Model |
The AWB research is driven by the well established Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) theory (Dollard & Bakker, 2010).
This theory extends other well-known job stress theories such as the Job-Demands Resources (JD-R; Demerouti, Nachreiner, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2001), Job Demands Control (JDC; Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990), and Effort Reward Imbalance (ERI; Siegrist, 1996) models. There is ample empirical evidence already that shows high levels of demands and low resources are a problem for worker health and poor engagement. We have added evidence to this body of knowledge by establishing PSC as the ‘cause of the causes’ of work stress factors (Law et al., 2011). |
Crucially PSC theory answers the question “where do job demands and resources come from?”. Psychosocial safety climate measures an organisation’s priorities and commitment in relation to the protection of worker psychological health and well-being, including psychosocial risk assessment.
In high PSC contexts managers will be cognizant of risk factors and will help to shape jobs where demands are manageable, and resources are adequate. Therefore if PSC is assessed, levels of demands and resources can be predicted. Psychosocial Safety Climate also acts as a moderator, reducing the negative impact of psychosocial hazards on employee health and productivity outcomes. Importantly as a leading indicator of work conditions, employee health and productivity (Law, et al., 2011), the utility of PSC over lag indicators such as workers’ compensation claims in informing preventative policy is clear. AWB results support the main premises of PSC theory; PSC is significantly related to all demands (negatively), resources (positively), health (positively) and productivity (positively) outcomes. Further analysis using hierarchical multiple regression showed that PSC explains 9 per cent of the variance in psychological health outcomes and 13 per cent of variance in engagement. The research suggests that a 10 per cent increase in PSC within organisations would lead to a 4.5 per cent decrease in bullying, a 4 per cent decrease in demands, a 4 per cent reduction in exhaustion and a 3 per cent reduction in psychological health problems as well as an 8 per cent increase in resources and a 6 per cent increase in engagement. It was also evident that PSC is related to worker and productivity outcomes via its effect on demands and resources. In other words PSC precedes work conditions and its effects flow on to health and productivity outcomes. These results, along with previous empirical evidence, highlight that PSC is a logical upstream target for injury prevention as it is an antecedent for demands and resources as well as health and productivity outcomes. For more information on PSC including measures and benchmarks go to Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) page. |
AWB MeasuresThe scales selected for the AWB tool were taken from internationally recognised and psychometrically validated measures to capture data on the following aspects:
Dollard, M.F. & Bailey, T. S. (Eds)., (2014). Australian Workplace Barometer: Psychosocial Safety Climate and working conditions in Australia, Samford Valley QLD; Australian Academic Press. Click Here |
Research Interests
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" AWB is being used to assist employers, workers and their representatives, practitioners, and policy makers in the development of policy to reduce work stress and related injury and in the future as a means to evaluate current, and future, worker injury prevention and intervention strategies. "
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How to cite this website:
Centre for Workplace Excellence (CWeX) (2019) StressCafé [Promoting healthier, happier, safer, and more productive work environments]. Retrieved from https://www.stresscafe.com.au/ |