The Australian workplace barometer: report on psychosocial safety climate and worker health in Australia

The Australian Workplace Barometer project aims to provide science driven evidence of Australian work conditions and their relationships to workplace health and productivity, through a national monitoring and surveillance system. This report was commissioned by Safe Work Australia to provide a summary of the results from data obtained from six Australian states and territories: New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The data provides evidence relating to psychosocial risk factors in the working Australian population as well as an analysis of relationships between risk factors and employee health and motivational outcomes

“Air Rage”: A Systematic review of Research on Disruptive Airline Passenger Behaviour 1985-2020

Purpose: Disruptive airline passenger behaviour (DAPB), i.e. “air rage”, has an adverse impact on crew and passenger well-being and is costly to manage and prevent. Given recent changes in airport management, aircraft design, air traffic volume and behavioural norms this review summaries research findings 1985-2020. Design/methodology: A systematic review of the research literature containing qualitative or quantitative data examining DAPB. Findings: Nineteen articles satisfied the criteria for inclusion. Most studies involved surveys of cabin crew members and to a lesser extent pilots, airline representatives, passengers and business customers. Content primarily focussed on the frequency and characteristics of DAPB, whilst consequences for staff and evaluation of training to manage DAPB was less represented. A paucity of current research was noted which is not in keeping with the changes over the last decade in the aviation industry and the increase in DAPB events. Practical implications: A better understanding of the environmental, social and psychological factors underlying DAPB and the effectiveness of staff training and interventions that promote a safe travel environment are required. Social implications: The current industry trend toward sustainability and better management of security challenges must extend its focus to DAPB, in order to reverse the recent trend of social irresponsibility in air travellers. Originality/value: This study presents a summary of current findings on DAPB.Peer Reviewe

How we look at others in anger: development of the McLinton Interpersonal Domain-specific Anger Instrument (MIDAI)

Interpersonal anger focuses on how an individual’s potential to anger may be influenced by the characteristics of other people, specifically the perpetrator of anger-eliciting behaviour and their environment. This chapter describes the process used to generate and validate a new anger measure. To develop an instrument to measure this recently operationalised anger construct we employed the Delphi technique, gaining consensus with an international panel of 15 anger experts from seven countries. Face validity and readability were assessed with a group of 21 postgraduate psychology students. The final five scales each dealt with a different target individual, forming the McLinton Interpersonal Domain-specific Anger Instrument (MIDAI). The MIDAI was piloted in a random stratified community sample (Australia; N=301) to test psychometric properties and reliabilities, and to explore the factor structure. The second wave of longitudinal data (Australia; N=204) displayed good test-retest reliability, and a validation sample of cross-cultural data (Japan; N=300) confirmed the two factor structure of each MIDAI scale; overt hostility and covert provocation. Results show significant differences in anger toward different targets, and indicate interpersonal anger to be a trait rather than transient state. It suggests that individuals may have different predispositions to anger according to characteristics of the target and the environment (domain) in which it occurs.

Reliability and Validity of the Japanese Version of the 12-Item Psychosocial Safety Climate Scale (PSC-12J)

The 12-item psychosocial safety climate scale (PSC-12) has been used extensively in previous research, but its reliability and validity in a Japanese context are still unknown. We examined the psychometrics of the Japanese version of the PSC-12 (PSC-12J). The PSC-12J and scales on the relevant variables were administered to 2200 employees registered with an online survey company. A follow-up survey with 1400 of the respondents was conducted two weeks later. Internal consistency and test–retest reliability were examined via Cronbach’s alpha and Cohen’s weighted kappa coefficients, respectively. Structural, convergent, and known-group validities were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT) analysis, correlation analysis, and Kruskal–Wallis test, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha and Cohen’s weighted kappa coefficients were 0.97 and 0.53, respectively. CFA based on the four-factor structure established in the previous literature showed an acceptable model fit. IRT analysis showed that each item was an adequate measure of the respondent’s latent trait. Correlations of the PSC-12J with the relevant variables and distribution of scores by demographic characteristics were also observed in the theoretically expected directions, supporting the construct validity of the PSC-12J. Our findings establish the PSC-12J as a reliable and valid measure of the psychosocial safety climate construct in the Japanese context

Prevention through job design: identifying high-risk job characteristics associated with workplace bullying

Work environment hypothesis, a predominant theoretical framework in workplace bullying literature, postulates that job characteristics may trigger workplace bullying. Yet, these characteristics are often assessed by employees based on their experience of the job. This study aims to assess how job characteristics, independently assessed via Occupational Information Network (O*NET), are related to perceived job characteristics reported by employees, which, in turn, are associated with self-reported workplace bullying. Multilevel mediation analyses from 3,829 employees in 209 occupations confirmed that employees, whose work schedules are more irregular and whose work involves a higher level of conflictual contact (as assessed by O*NET), report experiencing higher job demands, which are associated with higher exposure to bullying. Moreover, employees working in jobs structured to allow for more discretion in decision-making (as assessed by O*NET) report experiencing more job autonomy and are less likely to experience bullying. The results offer some clues as to how the way in which a job is structured is related to how that job is perceived, which in turn is associated with exposure to bullying. Our findings also suggest that a job design perspective to redesign certain job characteristics may offer an additional viable approach to prevent workplace bullying

Benchmarking working conditions for health and safety in the frontline healthcare industry: Perspectives from Australia and Malaysia

Aim: To present benchmarks for working conditions in healthcare industries as an initial effort into international surveillance. Background: The healthcare industry is fundamental to sustaining the health of Australians, yet it is under immense pressure. Budgets are limited, demands are increasing as are workplace injuries and all of these factors compromise patient care. Urgent attention is needed to reduce strains on workers and costs in health care, however, little work has been done to benchmark psychosocial factors in healthcare working conditions in the Asia-Pacific. Intercultural comparisons are important to provide an evidence base for public policy. Design: A cross-sectional design was used (like other studies of prevalence), including a mixed-methods approach with qualitative interviews to better contextualize the results. Methods: Data on psychosocial factors and other work variables were collected from healthcare workers in three hospitals in Australia (N = 1,258) and Malaysia (N = 1,125). 2015 benchmarks were calculated for each variable and comparison was conducted via independent samples t tests. Healthcare samples were also compared with benchmarks for non-healthcare general working populations from their respective countries: Australia (N = 973) and Malaysia (N = 225). Findings: Our study benchmarks healthcare working conditions in Australia and Malaysia against the general working population, identifying trends that indicate the industry is in need of intervention strategies and job redesign initiatives that better support psychological health and safety. Conclusion: We move toward a better understanding of the precursors of psychosocial safety climate in a broader context, including similarities and differences between Australia and Malaysia in national culture, government occupational health and safety policies and top-level management practices