The employee's perception of psychological safety: construct dimensions, scale development and validation

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Workplace Safety
• Human Resource Management

Background:

• Organizations benefit from psychological safety in mitigating risks and boosting performance.
• Existing scales for psychological safety lack a multidimensional, integrated interaction perspective.
• A clear definition and model of psychological safety are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define the concept of Perception of Psychological Safety (PPS).
• To propose a three-dimensional model of PPS (organizational, team, dyadic levels).
• To develop and validate a reliable and valid scale for measuring workplace PPS.

Main Methods:

• Literature review to define PPS and propose a theoretical model.
• Scale development based on a three-dimensional PPS model.
• Empirical validation using data from 12 startups in China.

Main Results:

• The developed PPS scale demonstrates good reliability and internal consistency.
• The scale exhibits strong content, convergent, and discriminant validity.
• The three-dimensional model of PPS is supported by empirical findings.

Conclusions:

• The new PPS scale effectively measures psychological safety at multiple levels.
• This validated scale can aid organizations in fostering a safer and more productive work environment.
• The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of psychological safety in organizational contexts.