The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2004 The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety Ann Marie Callahan University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Callahan, Ann Marie, "The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1961 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Ann Marie Callahan entitled "The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Social Work. Charles Glisson, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: John S. Wodarski, David Dupper, Lawrence R. James Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Ann Marie Callahan entitled “The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Social Work. Charles Glisson Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: John S. Wodarski David Dupper Lawrence R. James Accepted for the Council: Anne Mayhew Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) The Role of Demographic Diversity in Predicting Worker Psychological Safety A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Ann Marie Callahan August 2004 ii Dedication I would like to dedicate this dissertation to Kathy Kilby and Toni McDaniel. Without your support, this work would not have been completed. I would also like to extend a special thanks to my family and committee members. iii Abstract This study examined the influence of demographic diversity on case manager perceptions of psychological safety in child welfare and juvenile justice case management teams. The study was based on survey data from 82 case managers in 10 teams that were collected as part of a larger study. A series of regressions indicated that demographic diversity influenced a case manager’s psychological safety differently depending on the case manager’s characteristics. Diversity contributed to a decrease in psychological safety for non-Caucasians and an increase in psychological safety for Caucasians. Men reported an increase in psychological safety and women reported a decrease in psychological safety with greater team diversity. Finally, diversity contributed to a decrease in psychological safety for people without aggressive personalities and an increase in psychological safety for people with aggressive personalities. iv Table of Contents Chapter Page 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….1 2. Demographic Diversity…………………………………………….…..5 3. Psychological Safety…………………………………………………..11 4. Linking Demographic Diversity and Psychological Safety…………...16 5. Methodology…………………………………………………………...21 6. Results………………………………………………………………….27 7. Discussion………………………………………………………………38 References………………………………………………………………49 Appendix………………………………………………………………..62 Vita……………………………………………………………………...85 v List of Tables Table Page 1. Descriptive Statistics…………………………………………………64 2. Measurement Alphas…………………………………………………65 3. Correlation Matrix…………………………………………………....66 4. Hierarchical Regression Analysis for HI and CV Unstandardized/Standardized Beta Coefficients……………………..68 5. Unstandardized Beta Coefficients for HI and CV Significant Interaction Equations………………………………………………....70 6. F Statistic for Simple Main Effects…………………………………..71 7. Hierarchical Regression Analysis for RD Unstandardized/Standardized Beta Coefficients……………………..72 8. Unstandardized Beta Coefficients for RD Significant Interaction Equations…………………………………………………74 9. Significant Simple Main Effects for Race…………………………....75 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Each year more than three million children are reported as abused or neglected in the United States (McDonald and Associates, 2004; Fromm, 2001). Many of these children rely on child welfare and juvenile justice services to help them mature into healthy and productive adults. Child welfare and juvenile justice case managers have the responsibility of coordinating the care of these children. Examples of case management responsibilities include developing client care plans, arranging residential placements, coordinating social and mental health services, and monitoring client progress. Case managers are often required to navigate through a complex system of service providers and confront systemic barriers. Case managers are further required to be emotionally available to engage in healthy relationships with clients, many with serious behavioral and emotional problems. Despite these significant challenges, case managers must provide the highest quality of care. One way to assist case managers in this process is to better understand how case managers perceive their work environment. A worker in any organization attaches meaning to and attempts to make sense out of work environment characteristics (e.g., policies, practices, and procedures). A worker attends most closely to and places the greatest value on work environment characteristics that could potentially influence his or her own personal welfare (James and McIntyre, 1997). The psychological climate of a work environment is a worker’s perception of the psychological impact that the work environment has on his or her own personal welfare (Glisson, 2000; Glisson and James, 2002; James and McIntyre, 1997; Doverspike and Blumental, 2001; Hemmelgarn, Glisson, and Dukes, 2001). 2 Perceived congruence between personal values and organizational values can have a positive impact on a worker’s psychological climate (James and McIntyre, 1997; Parker, Baltes, Young, Huff, Altmann, Lacost, and Roberts, 2003). Some writers have described a positive psychological climate as “psychologically safe” (Brown and Leigh, 1996; Khan, 1990). More specifically, psychological safety is a worker’s perception of the freedom to fully engage in work responsibilities without fear of negative consequences to one’s status, career, or self-image (Khan, 1990). Demographic diversity within child welfare and juvenile justice case management teams is hypothesized to be one factor that could influence the psychological safety experienced by case managers. Case management teams can be diverse in many ways but diversity is frequently expressed as variance in a team’s demographic characteristics such as gender, age, race, and ethnicity. Diversity can also be a function of the extent to which teams vary in characteristics such as education, tenure, personality, and values (Tsui an Gutek, 1999; Harrison, Price, and Bell, 1998; Miliken and Martins, 1996). As a result, diversity would be expected to exist to some extent in all child welfare and juvenile justice case management teams. Based on the social categorization theory (Tajfel, 1981; Turner, 1987), people categorize others by referencing demographic characteristics, which are used to define expectations for their behavior. People are assumed to engage in behaviors associated with those who have similar demographic characteristics. Case management teams with a greater degree of demographic diversity could be perceived as threatening and “psychologically unsafe” given the team member’s limited ability to predict the behavior of others associated with different social categories (Kahn, 1990). Therefore, diversity 3 within a case management team can create the conditions that decrease a team member’s psychological safety. Organizational demography research has determined that demographic diversity can influence outcomes related to psychological climate. Examples of these outcomes include perceptions of conflict (Randel, 2002; Tsui and O’Reilly, 1989), role ambiguity (Tsui and O’Reilly, 1989), psychological attachment (Tsui, Egan, and O’Reilly, 1992), cooperation (Ely, 1994; Chatman, Polzer, Barsade, and Neale, 1997; Cox, Lobel, and McLeod, 1991; Espinoza and Garza, 1985; Garza and Santos, 1991; Lau, 1998; Watson, Kumar, and Michaelson, 1993), and advancement opportunities (Cox, Welch, and Nkomo, 2001; Riordan and Shore, 1997; Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley, 1990; Kirchmeyer, 1995). Some organizational demography research suggests that demographic diversity can influence outcomes related to psychological climate differently depending on the worker’s demographic characteristics. For example, Tsui, Egan, and O’Reilly (1992) found that gender dissimilarity had a more