Understanding Why and When Supervisor Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibits Workplace Safety

Abstract

Ensuring workplace safety behaviors along with remaining profitable are two essential considerations for leaders in today's competitive world. However, the literature is yet to understand whether leaders focusing solely on achieving financial bottom-line (i.e., those who adopt a bottom-line mentality (BLM); supervisor BLM) are effective in enhancing employee workplace safety behaviors. Accordingly, in the present research, we draw from social information processing theory to examine the link between supervisor BLM and workplace safety behaviors. We theorize that supervisor BLM is negatively related to employees' perceptions of supervisor support for safety and furthermore negatively related to employee workplace safety behaviors. We also explore how employee job insecurity exacerbates this mediating process. Results from two studies (Study 1, a multi-wave study (N = 222) and an experimental study (N = 300)) provide empirical support for our hypothesized model. Implications of our findings and future research directions are discussed.