Hazardous work, fear of injury, and safety voice: the role of invulnerability among young workers

• Main Author: Dueck, Paul M.
• Other Authors: Turner, Nick (Business Administration)
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: fear; injuries; invulnerability; safety; voice; young; workers
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/22117

This paper investigates in 2 studies the role of invulnerability in predicting young workers’ intentions to speak up about hazards. I propose a model in which perceptions of hazardous work are related to safety voice intentions via fear of injury, and that higher invulnerability buffers (a) the extent to which potential hazards generate fear of injury and (b) the extent to which fear of injury motivates voice. In Study 1, I randomly assigned participants (n = 115, aged 15-25) to an unsafe or safe scenario. Participants with lower invulnerability reported higher safety voice intentions across all levels of fear of injury. Participants with higher invulnerability reported as high safety voice intentions only when fear of injury was high, and reported much lower safety voice intentions than those with low invulnerability when fear of injury was low. Study 2 replicates this model using field data from young workers (n = 67).