Participation in Decision-Making and Perceived Organizational Support as Predictors of Psychological Safety among Secondary School Staff

Abstract

Psychological safety, employee participation in decision-making, and organizational support have become key issues in organizational behavior literature. Consequent to the aforementioned, this study examined employee participation in decision-making and perceived organizational support as predictors of psychological safety among the staff of secondary schools. A quantitative cross-sectional survey and the predictive design were utilized for investigating the direct nexus between the variables. Data were collected from 150 employees working in secondary schools in Awka and Amawbia of Anambra State, Nigeria, using the simple random sampling technique. The participants comprise 78 females (51.8%) and 72 males (48.2%) with a mean age of 30.2 years and a standard deviation of 8.3. Three standardized self-report measures of psychological safety, perceived organizational support, and participation in decision-making were used for collecting the data while regression analysis was used for testing the two research hypotheses via the IBM-SPSS version 23. The result of the study showed that perceived organizational support significantly and positively predicted psychological safety (\(\beta\)= .081, p < .05). Also, employee participation in decision-making was not a significant predictor of psychological safety (\(\beta\)= -.014, p > .05). This implies that an increase in organization support promotes psychological safety, while an increase or decrease in participation in decision-making does not facilitate psychological safety in the organization. Hence, it is recommended that policies governing engagement in management and managerial support should be reformed for employees in secondary schools because of the positive impact it has on psychological safety in the workplace.