Cross-validation of an employee safety climate model in Malaysia

ProblemWhilst substantial research has investigated the nature of safety climate, and its importance as a leading indicator of organisational safety, much of this research has been conducted with Western industrial samples. The current study focuses on the cross-validation of a safety climate model in the non-Western industrial context of Malaysian manufacturing.MethodThe first-order factorial validity of Cheyne et al.’s (1998) [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] model was tested, using confirmatory factor analysis, in a Malaysian sample.ResultsResults showed that the model fit indices were below accepted levels, indicating that the original Cheyne et al. (1998) safety climate model was not supported. An alternative three-factor model was developed using exploratory factor analysis.DiscussionAlthough these findings are not consistent with previously reported cross-validation studies, we argue that previous studies have focused on validation across Western samples, and that the current study demonstrates the need to take account of cultural factors in the development of safety climate models intended for use in non-Western contexts.Impact on industryThe results have important implications for the transferability of existing safety climate models across cultures (for example, in global organisations) and highlight the need for future research to examine cross-cultural issues in relation to safety climate.

► Safety climate model is tested for cross-validation in Malaysian manufacturing sample
► CFA finds the hypothesized model to be a poor fit
► EFA is used to develop a new three-factor safety climate model
► Differences are explained with reference to differences in national culture
► There are implications for multinationals implementing safety climate surveys across cultures