The effect of safety climate in workplaces on productive organizational energy of employees: a research in textile industry

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this study is to reveal the effects of “safety climate” on “productive organizational energy”, based on the idea that higher energy and productivity will be seen in employees with the improved safety climate in the working environment.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, data were collected using an online questionnaire from 426 employees of small and medium-sized textile enterprises in the Organized Industrial Zone in the Turkish province of Gaziantep. The “easy sampling” method was applied, one of the sampling techniques not based on probability. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the effects of the “Management's perspectives and rules” and “Colleagues and safety trainings” sub-dimensions of the safety climate on the “emotional”, “cognitive” and “behavioral” components of productive energy.FindingsThe findings showed that the safety climate in the workplace positively and significantly affects the productive organizational energy of employees. In addition, it was observed that the management's perspective and rules had a higher impact on productive organizational energy in attitudes towards the safety climate and productive energies of these employees compared to safety pieces of training.Practical implicationsFirst of all, the result of this study and the positive results that the safety climate in organizations might cause have been noted. It has been demonstrated that the productive energies of the employees will increase if the necessary safety climate is established in the enterprises. In addition, despite the importance attached to the safety training of the employees, as a result of the analysis, it has been determined that the management's perspective and rules (ß = 0.61; p < 0.01) have a higher positive effect on the productive energy of the employees. If these situations are considered by the managers, it is expected that the occupational health and safety management strategies created for the employees will contribute to the formation of positive behaviors in the employees.Originality/valueThe driving force of the present study is that, to our knowledge, there has been no research on this issue related to employees who are mentioned as a critical force in solving productivity and whose number is about 26 million in Turkey's population.