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Psychological Safety 

Definition

"A shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking." (Edmondson 1999, p. 354)

Key References 

  • Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999 
    • Introduction to psychological safety construct, established prelimianry connections with team efficacy, team performance, and indivdiual learning behaviors, and presents commonly used psychogical safety measure.
  • Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(7), 941-966.
    • Addresses psychological safety in the context of healthcare teams* and introduces the construct of leader inclusiveness which is the actions by which leaders encourage psychological safety
  • Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305 
    • Review of psychological safety research and relationships on the indivdiual and group level, addressses future directions in research and practice

Key Measurements

  • Edmondson 1999 psychological safety subscale: 7 item survey Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Recent Articles 

  • Frazier, M. L., Fainshmidt, S., Klinger, R. L., Pezeshkan, A., & Vracheva, V. (2016). Psychological safety: A meta-analytic review and extension. Personnel Psychology, 70(1), 113–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12183 
    • Comprehensive meta-analysis to extend research by determining effectiveness of antecedents, examining influence on task performance, examining the nomological network of research, and testing the homology assumption.
  • Gong, Y., Cheung, S.-Y., Wang, M., & Huang, J.-C. (2010). Unfolding the proactive process for creativity. Journal of Management, 38(5), 1611–1633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380250 
    • Proposes that information exchange fosters trust relationships that provide psychological safety in creative endevours.
  • Liang, J., Farh, C. I., & Farh, J.-L. (2012). Psychological antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voice: A two-wave examination. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0176 
    • Using a two-wave pannel design, found that psychological safety was most strongely related to subsequent prohibitive voice out of the three psychological antecedents (psychological safety, felt obligation for constructive change, and organization-based self-esteem).