How and when digital transformation intensity influences employees' safety-related helping behaviors

Abstract

In the context of safety management in safety-critical organizations, this study leveraged the job demands–resources model to scrutinize the divergent effects of digitalization on safety-related helping behavior. A two-stage survey of 367 employees from 41 teams in a safety-critical organization revealed that the employees' self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between the intensity of digital transformation and safety-related helping behavior, whereas ego depletion mediated the negative relationship between the intensity of digital transformation and safety-related helping behavior. In addition, employees' positive perception of the organization's motivation for adopting digitalization amplified the indirect effect of the intensity of digital transformation on safety-related helping behavior via self-efficacy, while diminishing this indirect effect via ego depletion. These findings help to deepen the current understanding of the relationship between digitalization and employees' safety-related helping behaviors, and provide suggestions for managers in safety-critical organizations on how to use digital technologies to encourage employees to help each other in safety management. We emphasize that it is important for organizations to ensure that employees understand that digital transformation are motivated by a desire to help them avoid safety hazards, rather than to supervise them in safety management.