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Safety-Related Moral Disengagement in Response to Job Insecurity: Counterintuitive Effects of Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine individual and organizational antecedents and consequences of safety-related moral disengagement. Using Conservation of Resources theory, social exchange theory, and psychological contract breach as a theoretical foundation, this study tested the proposition that higher job insecurity is associated with greater levels of subsequent safety-related moral disengagement, which in turn is related to reduced safety performance. Moreover, we examined whether perceived organizational and supervisor support buffered or intensified the impact of job insecurity on moral disengagement. Using a two-wave lagged design, anonymous survey data collected from N = 389 working adults in the U.S. supported the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of job insecurity on safety performance via moral disengagement were intensified as levels of perceived organizational and supervisor support increased. These results suggest that the threat of job insecurity may prompt employee moral disengagement; this effect is even stronger among employees who perceived higher levels of organizational and supervisor support. We interpret these counterintuitive findings in light of increasingly insecure contemporary work arrangements and how these may give rise to potentially unethical safety-related decision making and behavior.

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Notes

  1. Although our study focuses on moral disengagement as a mediating mechanism, we also acknowledge that there are other plausible explanatory variables accounting for the relationship between job insecurity and safety performance, including cognitive and affective-based explanatory mechanisms (Probst and Lavaysse 2017). For example, threat-rigidity theory would predict that job insecurity can result in cognitive failures (i.e., unintentional lapses in attention, memory, or motor functioning; Wallace and Chen 2005) which could lead to safety violations. Additionally, Probst and Brubaker (2001) found support for attitudinal and affective mediating mechanisms, such that the effects of job insecurity on compliance, injuries, and accidents were mediated by reductions in job satisfaction, safety knowledge and safety motivation. Thus, while we expect that moral disengagement will partially mediate the impact of job insecurity on safety performance, we nevertheless expect that direct effects will also be observed even after accounting for the effects via moral disengagement.

  2. The conditional indirect effects and interactions for the remaining 7 models tested were all consistent with the effects shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Complete sets of these results can be obtained upon request from the first author.

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Acknowledgements

Tahira M. Probst, Department of Psychology, Washington State University; Laura Petitta, Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome; Claudio Barbaranelli, Sapienza University of Rome; Christopher Austin, Department of Psychology, Washington State University. This research was partially supported by a Visiting Professor Research Award (#C26V16BRA2) granted to the first and third authors from the Sapienza University of Rome, in conjunction with a WSU College of Arts and Sciences International Faculty Travel Grant awarded to the first author.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Washington State University Vancouver, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave., Vancouver, WA, 98686, USA

    Tahira M. Probst & Christopher Austin

  2. Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy

    Laura Petitta & Claudio Barbaranelli

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  1. Tahira M. Probst
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  2. Laura Petitta
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Probst, T.M., Petitta, L., Barbaranelli, C. et al. Safety-Related Moral Disengagement in Response to Job Insecurity: Counterintuitive Effects of Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support. J Bus Ethics 162, 343–358 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4002-3

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