Predicting propensity to actively care for occupational safety

A 154-item safety culture survey (SCS) was administered to employees of two industrial plants to test an actively caring (AC) model designed to predict individuals' propensity to go beyond the call of duty (or actively care) for the safety of coworkers. A total of 530 surveys were completed at a mean return rate of 89%. The regression analysis at each site ( Rs = .52 and .68) showed the same four subscales on the SCS (i.e., measures of personal control, group cohesion, extroversion, and reactance) to predict independent variance in employees' reported willingness to actively care. Furthermore, a higher percentage of scales hypothesized to predict AC were significantly correlated with willingness to actively care (i.e., 90%) than were scales hypothesized not to predict AC behavior (i.e., 50%). The results were largely consistent with our theory-driven AC model, except for the prominent inverse relationship between reactance and propensity to actively care. Thus, the results provided validity for the AC model, while also suggesting specific theory revision.