The impact of psychosocial safety climate on public sector job satisfaction: the moderating role of organizational climate

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study is to uncover the effect of psychological safety climate (PSC) on employees' job satisfaction and organisational climate mediating processes explaining that association. It is posited that the four PSC aspects (management commitment, management priority, organisational participation, and organisational communication) are important for employees' job satisfaction and organisational climate act as resources to facilitate the enactment of managerial quality.

Methods: This study uses a quantitative approach through a questionnaire survey method involving 340 Kota Kinabalu City Hall employees who were selected through simple random sampling.

Results: The results of linear regression analysis found that organisation participation has a positive significant relationship with job satisfaction. Organisational communication also showed a negative and significant relationship with job satisfaction. Meanwhile, both management commitment and management priority are statistically insignificant. When the organisational climate is included in the relationship as a mediator through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to reinforce the role of psychological safety climate in increasing job satisfaction, such mediating role can only strengthen the relationship between management commitment and organisational participation with job satisfaction.

Conclusion: Despite the study being cross-sectional, it contributes to knowledge on the resources facilitating PSC, which is important for employees' psychological health. From a practical viewpoint, this study contributes to the literature showing that organizations with good PSC should have policies and practices directed towards employee well-being. The implications of the study for DBKK management are to providing knowledge on the types of psychosocial safety climate domains that plays a crucial role in improving the job satisfaction of DBKK employees.

Keywords: Job satisfaction; Organizational climate; Psychological safety climate; Public sector.