The Mediating Role of Employee Conscientiousness on Safety Climate, Employee Competency and Safety Performance in Malaysian Electrical Industry

Background/problem: Safety performance plays a crucial role in accident prevention programmes in the workplace. Employees’ attitude and behaviour are the main components to improve safety practices. Understanding the impact of employees’ competency and abilities related to occupational safety at the workplace need to be enhanced for safety performance outcomes. Objective/purpose: This study aimed to examine the mediation effect of employee conscientiousness in relationship between safety climate and employee competency on safety performance within Malaysian electrical industry. Design and Methodology: Using a quantitative method, data was collected from 412 workers in Malaysian electrical industry. Data analysis was performed with partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: The findings indicated that safety climate (β = .58, p = .000) and employee competency (β = .30, p = .02) directly affected safety performance among electrical workers. Furthermore, employee conscientiousness mediated the relationship between safety climate (β = .33, p = .00) and employee competency (β = .17, p = .00) on safety performance among electrical workers. Conclusion and Implications: The study highlights the role of conscientious employees in strengthening the safety climate and effectively applying their competencies in the workplace. This research contributes by extending the application of expectancy valence theory, showing their belief and highlighting the crucial role of employee conscientiousness to improve safety performance. Thus, these findings provide valuable input for government policymakers, that support the strengthening safe behavior among electrical workers in Malaysia.