| Abstract | This study aims to investigate the psychological safety concept within organisations whilst also focusing on validating the psychometric properties of the Team Climate Inventory (TCI -14) for Jordan’s collectivist society. The Team Climate Inventory is characterised by participative safety, task orientation, vision and support for innovation. Psychological safety empowers employees to feel safe in the workplace to acquire new knowledge, thrive, contribute, work effectively, and navigate the complex work environment in a constantly transformative world. Previous empirical research has reported significant advantages that are linked to psychological safety in the workplace. Findings presented positive associations between psychological safety and innovation. Therefore, having a psychologically safe climate in organisations is essential for workers as it assists them in exploring new ideas and approaches to completing the work, recommending suggestions to improve the workplace, as well as cooperating and openly receiving and providing honest feedback from other team members. Accordingly, studying the associations between psychological safety support for innovation is prominent, considering the value it could add towards improving employee performance, engagement, organisational culture and innovation.
Past research that tested the factorial structure of the Team Climate Inventory was conducted in Western individualistic cultures. Nonetheless, this instrument has never been examined in Jordan’s collectivist society. Therefore, for the purposes of filling the current gap in the literature as a whole, and particularly, in Jordan, it is important to test the factorial structure of the Team Climate Inventory and its reliability in this specific setting. It is also essential to investigate if the factorial structure of the Team Climate Inventory in Jordan presents a similar or different structure to what has been established in individualistic societies. Further, exploring if there are correlations between participative safety and support for innovation for Jordanian employees is crucial.
The quantitative research was conducted among employees in Jordan, specifically in two of the top 20 companies: a shipping and logistics company (N=473) and a telecommunications company (N=219). To generalise the findings, data were also collected from the general population of the country (N=399). Participants completed the Team Climate Inventory, and confirmatory factor analyses and reliability tests were performed to verify the inventory's factorial structure, validity, and reliability. The results indicated that the Team Climate Inventory's four-factor structure in Jordan closely resembled those found in Western cultures. Its four-factor structure has been confirmed with strong fit indices and reliability values.
This research will offer valuable contributions to knowledge in multiple aspects. Initially, it will enhance understanding by scrutinizing the reliability and factorial structure within a Jordanian collectivist setting rather than within a Western individualistic one. Furthermore, it will provide insights by contrasting the Team Climate Inventory structure in Jordan with results presented in Western individualistic societies. Lastly, it will examine the correlations between participative safety and support for innovation within the country. Moreover, results from this research will aid practitioners and leaders in the field of business psychology in Jordan by informing them about the psychological safety levels of their team members and assessing areas of improvement within the work environment. It is also expected that the findings of this study will present recommendations that will assist practitioners in navigating the continuous changes in an efficient manner to develop more sustainable organisations. |
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