Safety voice among young workers facing dangerous work: A policy-capturing approach

• We examined whether decline in work-related safety and gender promotes speaking up about safety concerns among teenagers.
• Study 1 showed females had higher voice intentions than males, and greater intentions to speak up under safe conditions.
• Study 2 found the relationship between experiencing an injury and voice intentions was moderated by psychological safety.
• The results suggest that gender and psychological safety may influence speaking up about safety among young workers.

Does dangerous work encourage young workers to speak up about their safety concerns? We conducted two experimental studies to test this question, with Hirschman’s (1970) theory of behavioral responses to decline as a theoretical rationale. Study 1 (n = 159) manipulated two indicators of dangerous work − hazardous working conditions and experiencing injuries − to predict safety voice intentions, or willingness to speak up about safety concerns. Women had overall higher safety voice intentions than men, and in particular greater intentions to speak up about safety concerns under safe working conditions. Study 2 (n = 78) extended this model, showing that the relationship between experiencing an injury and safety voice intentions was moderated by psychological safety (i.e., belief that speaking up about safety concerns would be received without hostility), such that being injury-free in a psychologically unsafe environment yielded the lowest safety voice intentions. The results suggest that the extent to which young workers speak up about safety concerns may differ by gender and psychological safety when work is not particularly hazardous. We discuss implications for voice theory and safety in organizations.