Title
A Meta-Analysis of Personality and Workplace Safety: Addressing Unanswered Questions
Abbreviated Journal Title
J. Appl. Psychol.
Keywords
safety; personality; five-factor model; accidents; safety climate; RISKY DRIVING BEHAVIOR; SENSATION-SEEKING; ACCIDENT INVOLVEMENT; DRIVER; BEHAVIOR; JOB-PERFORMANCE; 5-FACTOR MODEL; YOUNG DRIVERS; TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP; INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES; OCCUPATIONAL-SAFETY; Psychology, Applied; Management
Abstract
The purpose of this meta-analysis was to address unanswered questions regarding the associations between personality and workplace safety by (a) clarifying the magnitude and meaning of these associations with both broad and facet-level personality traits, (b) delineating how personality is associated with workplace safety, and (c) testing the relative importance of personality in comparison to perceptions of the social context of safety (i.e., safety climate) in predicting safety-related behavior. Our results revealed that whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively associated with unsafe behaviors, extraversion and neuroticism were positively associated with them. Of these traits, agreeableness accounted for the largest proportion of explained variance in safety-related behavior and openness to experience was unrelated. At the facet level, sensation seeking, altruism, anger, and impulsiveness were all meaningfully associated with safety-related behavior, though sensation seeking was the only facet that demonstrated a stronger relationship than its parent trait (i.e., extraversion). In addition, meta-analytic path modeling supported the theoretical expectation that personality's associations with accidents are mediated by safety-related behavior. Finally, although safety climate perceptions accounted for the majority of explained variance in safety-related behavior, personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism) still accounted for a unique and substantive proportion of the explained variance. Taken together, these results substantiate the value of considering personality traits as key correlates of workplace safety.
Journal Title
Journal of Applied Psychology
Volume
100
Issue/Number
2
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Document Type
Article
DOI Link
Language
English
First Page
481
Last Page
498
WOS Identifier
ISSN
0021-9010
Recommended Citation
"A Meta-Analysis of Personality and Workplace Safety: Addressing Unanswered Questions" (2015). Faculty Bibliography 2010s. 6426.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/facultybib2010/6426
Comments
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