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Denmark and Sweden are societally and regulatory similar countries with large differences in occupational injury rates. Denmark has consistently had twice the rate of reported injuries compared to Sweden and a 45% higher rate of fatal injuries in the construction industry. The current study aims to further investigate the perceived underlying factors responsible for the difference in injury rate between Denmark and Sweden by examining the possible impact on safety climate and safety behaviour of cooperation, perceived organizational support, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), planning, safety motivation, and long-term orientation. The paper is based on a questionnaire study completed by 346 construction workers from 48 Swedish construction sites and 465 construction workers from 37 Danish construction sites. The results show that all six predictors were positively related with safety climate and/or safety behaviour in both countries. However, the level of the predictors was generally higher in Sweden, and there was a stronger positive relationship with the outcomes in Sweden than Denmark. Specifically, the valuation of cooperation and OCB, planning and long-term orientation were more dominant in Sweden. These differences illuminate some of the possible factors underlying the difference in injury rate between the Danish and Swedish construction industry.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations among job resources, value conflicts, information security climate and information security behaviour in the nuclear industry. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal questionnaire data on information security climate and psychosocial working conditions were collected from two organisations in Sweden (response rate 62% and 59%, respectively). Findings A high occurrence of value conflicts decreased the participative information security behaviour, while psychosocial job resources and high job demands had positive effects on such behaviour. High rule-compliant information security behaviour led to fewer perceived value conflicts. When job resources were high, high job demands had a positive effect on rule compliance. Information security climate had a strong and positive cross-sectional relationship with information security behaviour but no longitudinal influence on behaviour. This suggests that the time interval, one year between measurements, may have been too long and events between measurements may have masked the causal process. Originality/value As one of very few longitudinal studies of information security, this study illuminated causal relationships regarding information security behaviour that have not been possible to identify in previous cross-sectional research. This enables better understanding of psychosocial phenomena and processes of importance for information security. This study does not provide conclusive results but indicates new important directions for research.

Healthcare unit managers are pivotal to promote nurses' Perceived Organizational Support and hence to ensure nurses' health and well-being, as well as high-quality care. Despite this fact, there is a dearth of studies addressing how healthcare unit managers act and organize their work to promote nurses' Perceived Organizational Support and which working conditions enable them to do so. Through a mixed methods approach, comprising qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys among healthcare unit managers and nurses, this paper underscores that healthcare unit managers' availability to their nursing staff was essential for their ability to promote nurses' Perceived Organizational Support, and that responsive support from the care unit managers' superior management, administration, and managerial colleagues constituted enabling working conditions. Superior manager support strongly promoted the care unit manager's own Perceived Organizational Support, which, in turn, was positively correlated with nurses' organizational climate of Perceived Organizational Support.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of work-related value conflicts on information security in two organisations in nuclear power production and related industry.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-methods design was applied. Individual interviews were conducted with 24 employees of two organisations in Sweden and questionnaire data on information security climate were collected from 667 employees (62%) in the same two organisations.FindingsThe qualitative part of the study identified five different types of value conflicts influencing information security behaviour. The quantitative part of the study found that value conflicts relating to information security had a negative relationship with rule-compliant behaviour. The opposite was found for participative security behaviour where there was a positive relationship with value conflicts. A high climate of information security was positively related to both rule-compliant and participative information security behaviour. It also moderated the effect of value conflicts on compliant information security behaviour.Originality/valueThis paper highlights organisational contextual conditions that influence employees’ motivation and ability to manage value conflicts relating to information security in a high-risk industry. It also enables a better understanding of the influence of the information security climate on information security in the presence of value conflicts in this type of industry.

This study aims to investigate care unit managers' perceptions of how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced their ability to support the nurses.The COVID-19 pandemic placed extreme pressure on health care organizations. More knowledge regarding how the pandemic influenced care unit managers' ability to support nurses is central to ensuring high-quality health care in future crises.A mixed-methods study in Swedish hospitals with a survey (n = 128) and interviews (n = 20) with care unit managers.Approximately half of the managers reported having spent more time available to and supporting the nurses. Availability was positively predicted by their perceived organizational support while negatively by their job demands. These job demands concerned meeting staff anxiety and managing organizational restructuring. Full focus on direct patient care and strong professional and social support were important job resources.For care unit managers to effectively support the nurses during a crisis, they need proficient job resources and moderate job demands. Managers' perceived organizational support positively affects the quality of their crisis leadership. Creating arenas in which staff collegiality can form and develop is beneficial for the ability to meet future crises.This study specifies important job resources that should be acknowledged and reinforced to strengthen the ability of care unit managers to actively support the nurses during a crisis.

Background Stress-related disorders have become a major challenge for society and are associated with rising levels of sick leave. The provision of support to facilitate the return to work (RTW) for this patient group is of great importance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a new systematic procedure with collaboration between general practitioners (GPs), rehabilitation coordinators (RCs) and employers could reduce sick leave days for this patient group. Method Employed patients with stress-related diagnoses seeking care at primary health care centres (PHCCs) were included in either the intervention group (n = 54), following the systematic intervention procedure, or the control group (n = 58), receiving treatment as usual (TAU). The intervention included a) a training day for participant GPs and RCs, b) a standardised procedure for GPs and RCs to follow after training, c) the opportunity to receive clinical advice from specialist physicians in the research group. Outcome measures for RTW were sick leave days. Results The control group had significantly fewer net sick leave days at three months (p = 0.03) at six months (p = 0.00) and at 12-months follow-up (p = 0.01). At 24 months, this difference was no longer significant. Conclusions The PRIMA intervention, which applied a standardized procedure for employer involvement in the rehabilitation process for patients with stress-related disorders, actually increased time to RTW compared to TAU. However, at 24 months, the benefit of TAU could no longer be confirmed.

Large numbers of passengers and large amounts of goods are transported by air every year. This attracts the interest of terrorists, which poses high demands on aerodrome security. Technological solutions, and rules and regulations, have been widely implemented to detect security threats, but there is also a need for leading security indicators. Safety culture and climate have been identified as such leading indicators. The aim of this study was to develop and test a questionnaire instrument to measure aerodrome security climate. The development contained an expert focus group, expert panel, two pilot tests at four and five airports, respectively, and one full-scale study at nine Swedish commercial airports. The final instrument comprised 12 dimensions grounded in previous safety culture and climate research, and targeting three organizational levels. It had good psychometric properties and was validated against compliant as well as participative security behavior. We believe ADSECQ is suitable to evaluate the aerodrome security climate standard, pinpoint security climate areas for improvement, and evaluate the effect of interventions.

The demands on managers seem to have increased as a consequence of management reforms. This study evaluates interventions aimed at improving working conditions and performance of managers in the Swedish public sector by changing organizational conditions. Six intervention organizations were compared to 34 reference organizations. Organizational conditions relevant for managerial work were surveyed and the results presented to the management teams who decided on the action plans and implemented changes. Fidelity to the intentions and contextual circumstances were documented. A psychometrically tested questionnaire was used for pre- and post-measurements of effects among a sample of 303 managers. The results showed that the interventions were associated with changes in managers’ quality of work and performance. The evaluation design made it possible to show that organizational conditions can be changed in order to improve the operations managers’ situation if there is fidelity to the intentions and support from the strategic level management.

Background Digital healthcare information systems impose new demands on healthcare professionals, and information security rules may induce stressful value conflicts, which the professional culture may help professionals to handle. The aim of the study was to elucidate physicians’ and registered nurses’ shared professional assumptions and values, grounded in their professional cultures, and how these assumptions and values explain and guide healthcare professionals’ handling of value conflicts involving rules regulating the use of electronic medical records. Methods Healthcare professionals in five organisations in two Swedish healthcare regions were interviewed. Results The study identified ensuring the patients’ physical health and well-being as the overarching value and a shared basic assumption among physicians and registered nurses. A range of essential professional and organisational values were identified to help attain this goal. In value conflicts, different values were weighted in relation to each other and to the electronic information security rules. Conclusions The results can be used to guide effective design and implementation of electronic medical records and information security regulations in healthcare.

There is a notable difference in occupational injury rates in the two Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Denmark, with the latter having a 40% higher rate of fatal occupational injuries in the construction industry. This study explored differences in the vocational education and training (VET) systems between Sweden and Denmark that may be important for students’ safety learning and practice during VET. In both countries, students participate in full-time education, and the curriculum includes school-based as well as company- based training. However, during company- based training Swedish students retain their student status, whereas Danish students are employed as apprentices. From a perspective of viewing safety as a social practice developed through interactions of different social and institutional bodies, the analysis points to this difference in employment status as important for their safety practices and also for the teachers’ position to influence safety learning and practices during company-based training. An analysis of interview and survey data focusing on how VET students enact safety ‘knowings’ across learning sites, suggest how different forms of connectivity models in VET promote various forms of safety learning among students.

Organizational demands on productivity, innovations, and safety may seem paradoxical. How can the organization support employees to cope with such paradox? Based on organizational climate measures of safety, occupational health, innovativeness, and production effectiveness, we explored if a second-order organizational climate could be identified, that was associated with staff safety, health, innovations and team effectiveness, and if such a climate could be represented by an organizational climate of perceived organizational support (POS). Questionnaire data were collected from 137 workgroups in four Swedish companies in construction and mining. Analyses (structural equation modeling) were done at the workgroup level and a split sample technique used to investigate relations between climates and outcomes. A general second-order organizational climate was identified. Also, an organizational climate constructed by items selected to represent POS, was associated with team effectiveness, innovations, and safety. A POS-climate may facilitate employees’ coping with paradoxes, and provide a heuristic for managers in decision making.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an intervention comprising education and support in performing frequent and structured work preparation meetings with broad participation. Such work preparation meetings were expected to have positive effects on safety climate by emphasizing the value of safety at the work site, and on perceived influence at work. The study was a longitudinal, matched before and after questionnaire study, with six construction sites within a large Swedish construction company, randomly assigned to the intervention or the comparison group. Contrary to expectations, the intervention group reported a decrease in safety climate, while this increased in the comparison group. Perceived influence at work showed a tendency to decrease at the interventions sites. Frequent work preparation meetings may provide ample opportunity for obtaining perceptual safety climate cues. But the effect is dependent on how these meetings are performed, and what priorities are conveyed.

More than 20% of all reported occupational accidents in Europe in 2015 occurred within the construction industry. Leadership is an imperative antecedent to occupational safety. Transformational leadership is considered a central aspect of safety-promoting leadership and passive/avoidant leadership is considered a central aspect of poor safety leadership. This study aimed to comprehensively elucidate concrete, real-life transformational and passive/avoidant leadership behaviours through context-specific descriptions of day-to-day interactions between construction site managers and employees. A mixed method design was applied, combining structured observations of construction site managers, with questionnaire responses from construction employees. With this design, common method bias was eliminated. The results provide context-specific examples of transformational and passive/avoidant leadership behaviour. High proportions of observed transformational leadership was found to predict high construction site safety. High proportions of observed passive/avoidant leadership was found to predict low construction site safety. The proportion of transformational leadership behaviour was higher among site managers in Sweden than in Denmark, indicating that national cultural context may be an antecedent to safety leadership among construction site managers. Applying less passive/avoidant leadership and more transformational leadership appears to be an effective way for construction site managers to improve occupational safety in the industry.

OBJECTIVES: The construction industry accounted for >20% of all fatal occupational accidents in Europe in 2014. Leadership is an essential antecedent to occupational safety. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented, participative, and laissez-faire leadership on safety climate, safety behavior, and accidents in the Swedish and Danish construction industry. Sweden and Denmark are similar countries but have a large difference in occupational accidents rates. METHODS: A questionnaire study was conducted among a random sample of construction workers in both countries: 811 construction workers from 85 sites responded, resulting in site and individual response rates of 73% and 64%, respectively. RESULTS: The results indicated that transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented and participative leadership predict positive safety outcomes, and laissez-faire leadership predict negative safety outcomes. For example, rule-oriented leadership predicts a superior safety climate (β=0.40, P

Research on patient safety has indicated that focusing on technologies, routines, control systems, and individual caregiver attributes is not sufficient. The aim of this critical-incident interview study was to identify organizational and social-psychological conditions and processes that Swedish physicians and nurses (n = 36) perceived as important for patient and/or staff safety, and participative safety behavior. Injury due to psychological overload was the most salient type of healthcare worker hazard. Patient and healthcare worker safety went hand in hand. Good patient safety was present when caregivers had good access to their psychological and social capacities. These functions were jeopardized by stress. Our results indicated that quantitative overload, excessive cognitive and emotional complexity, lack of social support and good teamwork, organizational instability, and distrust for and frustration with the way healthcare organizations were managed, caused stress related function impairment in staff, which lead to mistakes and near misses. These aspects also in themselves contributed to risks. Good safety was associated with adequate resources and routines, workplace learning, and supportive unit level managers and colleagues. Features of professional cultures related to ethical norms to offer best possible care for the patient, in spite of insufficient resources, contributed to acceptance of working conditions that could lead to stress and overload.

The aim of this article is to investigate how span of control influences seven job demands common amongst operational public sector managers. Self-administrated surveys were collected from 434 managers organized in 37 municipal operations, i.e. management teams in a set of public organizations in Sweden, and complemented with register data. Multilevel analyses were performed and it was shown unfavorable to have a large number of subordinates for the majority of job demands investigated. Furthermore, managers who were members of management teams with a higher average span of control experience some job demands to an even higher extent. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate that span of control is a key upstream component of managers’ job demands and emphasize the value of a reasonable number of subordinates.

This chapter reports how managers in healthcare organizations in India and Sweden understand the organizational values of CSR and EO and describes the perceived importance of these values for workplace attractiveness. The chapter provides a general description of the healthcare sector in both countries on the basis of their national statistics. Most healthcare organizations sampled from India are private, corporate or trust-owned, whereas the Swedish healthcare organizations in the sample are public-owned. The understanding of these values is based on three data sources: (a) qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews of managers; (b) interviews with administrative heads/HR managers regarding the demographic composition of the sampled organizations; and (c) a quantitative survey of first-line healthcare managers. The chapter discusses how healthcare organizations practice CSR and EO based on the perceptions of healthcare managers from the two countries regarding the different components of these values. The relationship between perceived attractiveness and effectiveness is rated and profiled to present a comparative picture. The perceived importance of the two values and of competitive performance for attractiveness is also discussed.

This chapter reports how managers in the IT sector in India and Sweden understand the organizational values of CSR and EO and their importance for workplace attractiveness. A general description of the sector in the two countries is provided on the basis of their respective national statistics. We then present integrated information based on qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews with managers regarding the conceptualization of the values in their national perspectives; data collected through organizational interviews with HR managers regarding the demographic composition of their organizations and a quantitative survey of first-line managers in 15 sample organizations. The chapter discusses how IT organizations formalize, implement and communicate these values based on the perceptions of existing managers regarding the different components of these organizational values. Managers’ ratings of attractiveness (organizational commitment and intention to leave) and perceived effectiveness, supported by tests of differences between the countries on these parameters, are also reported. Finally, we discuss the perceived importance of these values and of competitive performance for the attractiveness of IT organizations.

The chapter offers a comprehensive presentation of the inferences drawn by the authors on the basis of the major findings of their research. The first part of the chapter presents the generic implications and recommendations based on similarities and differences in perceptions and practices of CSR and EO as values in organizations across sectoral and national cultures and the gender composition of employees. The second part of the chapter offers specific recommendations for different stakeholders, like policy makers, HR managers, first-line managers and potential employees in these sectors, as also for employer branding purposes. The recommendations are based on the importance of organizational values and their effect on perceptions regarding the attractiveness and effectiveness of an organization. In addition, the chapter discusses issues and learnings in research methodology in cross-cultural research in the field of organizational behaviour and management.

This chapter introduces and discusses the concepts of CSR and EO as these have evolved in the context of the national cultures of India and Sweden respectively. It deliberates on different approaches to understanding CSR and EO as important values within organizations. The chapter highlights how legislative regulation can multiply the impact of these organizational values. It also discusses the important contribution of organizational and national cultures in the practice and expression of such values. The chapter argues that values like CSR and EO can help organizations in both India and Sweden to develop attractive and sustainable workplaces, despite the different laws and labour market environments in the two countries.

This chapter discusses the major results of the research presented in the book. It interprets the quantitative and qualitative findings from the results presented in Chaps. 6– 11. It presents the national and sectoral contexts of the organizations based on their socio-demographic characteristics and deliberates on differential perceptions of CSR and EO from the perspective of employer branding. A comprehensive understanding and comparative view are offered about organizational values and practices in a multicultural perspective (across sectors, nations and genders). These findings are consolidated and an overall understanding of the relationship between organizational values and the attractive workplace is offered. Additionally, the chapter discusses the limitations of this research and summarizes the major findings in its conclusion.

This chapter reports how managers in the manufacturing sector in India and Sweden understand the values of CSR and EO, and discusses the importance of these values for workplace attractiveness. It begins by describing the manufacturing sectors of the two countries on the basis of their respective national statistics. Thereafter, we present an understanding of the two values based on three data sources: (a) qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews of managers; (b) data collected through interviews of administrative heads or HR managers regarding the demographic composition of organizations and (c) a quantitative survey of first-line healthcare managers. The chapter discusses how manufacturing organizations formulate, implement and communicate their policies on organizational values, besides reporting on managers’ perceptions of CSR and EO. Further, managers’ ratings of attractiveness (organizational commitment and intention to leave) and perceived effectiveness, supported by tests of differences between the countries on these parameters, are reported. The importance that managers attach to these organizational values when they evaluate the organization’s attractiveness is then discussed.

This book offers a multicultural perspective on attractive work, deliberating the impact of national culture, sectoral culture, organizational culture and gender composition on the understanding of the attractiveness and effectiveness of organizations. In addition, the book argues that employees’ perceptions of specific organizational values may influence the attractiveness of the workplace. With this overview, the present chapter discusses attractive work as it has been understood in the existing literature, and explores the different perspectives from which attractive work and workplaces have been studied. It dwells on the importance of understanding attractive work in today’s globalized context to attract and retain employees particularly from the human resources (HR) and employer branding perspectives, with specific reference to a multicultural and diverse workforce. It also seeks to understand whether attractive work has different indicators and implications for different sectors, e.g. manufacturing, information technology, health and education. The chapter highlights the importance of certain organizational values which influence the perceptions of employees regarding the attractiveness and effectiveness of an organization. It concludes by delineating the possible outcomes of having an attractive workplace.

This chapter reports how managers in educational institutions in India and Sweden understand the organizational values of CSR and EO, and the importance of these values for workplace attractiveness. A general description of the sector in the two countries is provided on the basis of their national statistics. Most sampled higher educational institutions from India are private or trust-owned, whereas in Sweden the sample comprises mostly government universities. The chapter presents integrated information based on cognitive interviews of managers regarding the conceptualization of these values; interviews of administrative heads/HR managers regarding the demographic composition of the institutions; and a quantitative survey of faculty members in managerial positions in sample institutions. A discussion of how higher educational institutions practice CSR and EO is supported by perceptions of employed academicians with regard to the different components of these values. In addition, the institutions are profiled in terms of their perceived attractiveness and effectiveness to present a comparative picture. The perceived importance of the values and of competitive performance for the attractiveness of educational institutions is presented.

This chapter discusses methodological issues pertaining to the studies reported in this book. It addresses some concerns and challenges in cross-cultural research with reference to concept measurement equivalence as well as methods for invariance testing of measures. It then provides an overview of the four studies, starting with the first survey questionnaire study through which we tested the factor structure, reliability and invariance of the instruments for the measurement of CSR and EO. Next, a description of the cognitive interviews with selected managers is provided, as well as methodological details of organizational interviews with HR managers with regard to socio-demographic characteristics of the organizations. The further development and validation of measures of CSR and EO practices in the second survey questionnaire study are described as well as the results from the testing of these measures for measurement equivalence between Indian and Swedish managers. This detailed account of the development and validation of research instruments for our study is presented in such a way as to be indicative for cross-cultural research designs in management and organizational behaviour research.

This chapter provides an overall perspective of the expressions of the organizational values of CSR and EO across different sectors in Sweden and India. It examines whether the expressions of these values are shared between managers in the same organization. The chapter also maps the sample organizations selected from different sectors in the two countries in terms of CSR and EO. The findings are described and interpreted to understand the effect of national culture, sectoral culture and their interaction on the expressions of CSR and EO in the studied organizations. On the basis of higher statistical analysis, we then discuss how important CSR and EO are for perceptions regarding the attractiveness of work and the organization’s effectiveness. In addition, we compare the moderating effect of national and sectoral culture on the relationship between expressions of organizational values and the perceived attractiveness and effectiveness of the organization.

This chapter explores whether, in a world where organizations act globally and managers interact worldwide, the meaning of organizational values for managers is universal or context-specific. We discuss the need to consider culture as a multifaceted concept in cross-cultural studies. The chapter discusses national, sectoral (pertaining to different types of industries) and gendered cultures, all of which may affect employees’ perceptions and behaviour in organizations. It has not so far been tested whether managers share perceptions of organizational values across nations, or whether different sectors or variations in gender composition among different industries have a greater impact on what values are considered important in workplace attractiveness for male and female managers. We present a comparative design that is suitable for testing different cultural perspectives in different contexts. Later chapters apply this comparative design and a cross-level methodology to a large sample of managers and strategically selected organizations in different sectors and types of industries.

In order to become attractive employers to both potential and existing employees, organizations work with employer branding. This chapter introduces the concept of ‘employer branding’, which is presented here in accordance with earlier research on this topic. Employer branding is discussed from both an external and an internal perspective, in relation to perceptions regarding an attractive workplace. The chapter emphasizes that existing employees (who know the organization from the inside) as well as potential employees have to be considered in an organization’s employer branding strategy. From the perspective of both these groups, the chapter gives examples of organizational attributes that have been found attractive. Thereafter, the chapter focuses on the importance of branding organizational values as being embedded in the organizational culture. Finally, employer branding is discussed from an HRM perspective where the HR function is described as essential to create a successful employer brand that can be sustained.

We investigated the effects of LMX in leader and member ratings on leader and member creative performance among 137 leader–member dyads in academic and commercial R&D groups. By using the sub-dimensions of LMX-MDM (affect, loyalty, contribution, and professional respect) we wanted to show which dimensions of the leader–member relationship that is beneficial to creative performance. Analyses were conducted with consideration to nesting and dependencies occurring in the data. Findings indicated that certain sub-dimensions of exchanges between leaders and followers are substantive for creative performance in either positive or negative ways, depending on academic and commercial setting. LMX sub-dimensions were also differently related to creative performance depending on leaders' or members' perspective. The mixed results of this study indicate that LMX theory needs further analysis from a multidimensional, multitarget, and multilevel perspective.

Although there is a plethora of questionnaire instruments for measuring safety climate or culture, very few have proven able to present a factor structure that is consistent in different contexts, and many have a vague theoretical grounding. The Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50) was developed by a team of Nordic occupational safety researchers based on organizational and safety climate theory, psychological theory, previous empirical research, empirical results acquired through international studies, and a continuous development process. Safety climate is defined as workgroup members’ shared perceptions of management and workgroup safety related policies, procedures and practices. NOSACQ50 consists of 50 items across seven dimensions, i.e. shared perceptions of: 1) management safety priority, commitment and competence; 2) management safety empowerment; and 3) management safety justice; as well as shared perceptions of 4) workers’ safety commitment; 5) workers’ safety priority and risk non-acceptance; 6) safety communication, learning, and trust in co-workers’ safety competence; and 7) workers’ trust in the efficacy of safety systems. Initial versions of the instrument were tested for validity and reliability in four separate Nordic studies using native language versions in each respective Nordic country. NOSACQ-50 was found to be a reliable instrument for measuring safety climate, and valid for predicting safety motivation, perceived safety level, and self-rated safety behavior. The validity of NOSACQ-50 was further confirmed by its ability to distinguish between organizational units through detecting significant differences in safety climate. Relevance to industry: NOSACQ-50 will enable comparative studies of safety climate between and within companies, industries and countries. It is suitable for research purposes as well as for practical use in evaluating safety climate status, as a diagnostic tool, and in evaluating the effect of safety climate interventions.

The aim was to test a structural model of the relations between psychological and mechanical workload and musculoskeletal neck/shoulder symptoms. This two-wave longitudinal cohort study was based on a questionnaire survey among Swedish female child-care workers (n=789). Two models were tested using structural equation modelling, one containing only those participants considered symptom free at baseline, thus focusing on symptom development, and one containing all participants irrespective of their baseline musculoskeletal status. The results indicate that psychological workload was related to the development of neck/shoulder symptoms, and thus highlight the importance of addressing psychosocial work environment factors in organization design and workplace interventions. However, psychological workload was not related to symptoms (when controlling for baseline mechanical workload and symptoms) in the model not distinguishing between different symptoms processes. These findings point to the importance of distinguishing between different processes such as development, maintenance and recovery from symptoms in studies of workplace factors and musculoskeletal symptoms. Mechanical workload was not related to neck/shoulder symptoms, when controlling for baseline psychological workload and symptoms, in any of the models tested. No interaction effect was found for psychological and mechanical workload on neck/shoulder symptoms.

Psychological climate has shown reliable relations to work outcomes. In the present study focus was placed on the significance of psychological climate for occupational safety. To gain further understanding of how to improve safety in organisations, mechanisms by which psychological climate may influence safety behaviour were investigated. A questionnaire survey was conducted among blue-collar construction workers (n = 189). Data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results showed that psychological climate has direct and indirect relations to safety behaviour, and safety motivation and safety knowledge were found to be key mediators in explaining these relations.

The present paper investigates the dimensionality of safety climate, tests a hypothesis of sharedness among members in a social unit as a characteristic of safety climate and tests the predictive validity of safety climate with regard to safety behaviour. The dimensionality of safety climate reported by [Cheyne, A., Cox, S., Oliver, A., Tomas, J.M., 1998. Modelling safety climate in the prediction of levels of safety activity. Work and Stress, 12 (3), 255-271.] was successfully replicated in three different samples (N1 = 242, N2 = 275, N3 = 284) in Swedish construction industry. Support was found for a hypothesis of a second order safety climate factor. A theoretically suggested distinction between safety climate and individual safety attitudes was supported. Safety climate was found to significantly predict self-reported safety behaviour 7 months later. This was true also with previous safety behaviour under control, supporting a causal relationship between safety climate and how workers behave with regard to safety.

The frequency of occupational accidents in Swedish farming is high. An intervention methodology aimed at influencing safety attitudes and behaviour was previously tested. The aims of the present st ...

Introduction Patient safety climate/culture is attracting increasing research interest, but there is little research on its relation with organizational climates regarding other target domains. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient safety climate and occupational safety climate in healthcare. Method The climates were assessed using two questionnaires: Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 1154 nurses, 886 assistant nurses, and 324 physicians, organized in 150 work units, within hospitals (117 units), primary healthcare (5 units) and elderly care (28 units) in western Sweden, which represented 56% of the original sample contacted. Results Within each type of safety climate, two global dimensions were confirmed in a higher order factor analysis; one with an external focus relative the own unit, and one with an internal focus. Two methods were used to estimate the covariation between the global climate dimensions, in order to minimize the influence of bias from common method variance. First multilevel analysis was used for partitioning variances and covariances in a within unit part (individual level) and a between unit part (unit level). Second, a split sample technique was used to calculate unit level correlations based on aggregated observations from different respondents. Both methods showed associations similar in strength between the patient safety climate and the occupational safety climate domains. Conclusions The results indicated that patient safety climate and occupational safety climate are strongly positively related at the unit level, and that the same organizational processes may be important for the development of both types of organizational climate. Practical applications Safety improvement interventions should not be separated in different organizational processes, but be planned so that both patient safety and staff safety are considered concomitantly.

A hypothetical model based on theories on stress, coping and motivation, describing the associations between risk perception and self reported safety activity, was tested. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used for the analysis of data from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 315 randomly selected Swedish farmers and farm workers. The results lent support for a model where the effects of risk perception on safety activity were mediated by two parallel paths, job stress and risk manageability. These two mediating mechanisms balanced each other out so that no direct influence of risk perception on safety activity was found. The results therefore suggest that, to increase and prioritize safety activity, efforts should be made to increase perceived risk manageability, supporting safety solutions simultaneously with efforts to reduce felt stress. Interventions focusing solely on risk perception, such as giving information about the negative consequences of risks, may result in little positive effect on safety activity.

This paper investigates some organizational conditions for providing quality in service delivery in human service organizations (HSOs): that is organizations that partly take over functions that formerly were carried out by families. The consequences of feedback for role ambiguity, job satisfaction and organizational commitment were investigated. Survey data were obtained from 604 human service workers in three different Swedish organizations: public insurance agency, social rehabilitation center and a psychiatric hospital. Positive feedback was found to reduce role ambiguity, while negative feedback contributed to role ambiguity. Role ambiguity was negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there was no support for a direct relationship between the feedback factors and job satisfaction or organizational commitment. Instead the relationships between feedback and work attitudes were mediated by role ambiguity. Conclusions of the study were: positive feedback that clarifi...

The objective of the present study was to test for multigroup invariance in measurement models and structural models between job characteristics, psychosocial intervening variables, health outcomes and sickness absenteeism. Four types of occupation were represented in the study: blue-collar workers ( n = 241), white-collar workers ( n = 209), elderly-care workers ( n = 338) and child-care workers ( n = 336). A first-order, six-factor multigroup confirmatory factor analysis model (i.e. measurement model) composed of two perceived job characteristics ( job autonomy and skill discretion), appraised workload, job satisfaction, stress-related ill-health and sickness absenteeism provided a good model fit. Invariance tests showed that the six-factor model fits well for all occupations. A partially recursive mediated multigroup structural model showed both similarities and differences across occupations as regards the relationships between independent latent variables ( job autonomy, skill discretion), intervenin...