An explicative model of unsafe work behavior

This study attempted to construct and test an explicative model of unsafe work behavior to reveal the mechanisms by which the following contributory factors to unsafe work behavior influence safety behaviors of individuals at workplaces: (a) perceived safety climate, (b) perceived hazard level, (c) perceived work pressure, (d) perceived risk, and (e) perceived barriers. Perceived safety climate was operationalized as management commitment, supervisor support, co-worker support, employee participation, and competence level. Data were collected from 722 US grain industry workers in 102 different locations of a multi-national grain company using a 98-item survey questionnaire. The second-order factor model to explain unsafe work behavior was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that perceived safety climate was the best predictor of unsafe work behavior among the contributing factors of safety behavior. Perceived safety climate affected unsafe work behavior in three paths simultaneously: (a) indirectly through the sequential influence of other mediating factors of perceived work pressure, perceived risk, and perceived barriers, (b) through direct influence on perceived barriers which, in turn, affects unsafe work behavior, and (c) direct influence on unsafe work behavior (standardized path coefficient = .73).