I Feel Safe, Do We? Differentiating the Multilevel Moderation of Psychological Safety on the Psychological Empowerment - Performance Relationship

Although numerous studies have increasingly examined psychological safety at individual and unit levels of analyses, few have disentangled their distinct moderating effects. Thus, it remains unclear whether the impact of unit psychological safety derives primarily from individuals’ perceptions of the unit, or from members’ shared unit perceptions. We test whether psychological safety—either as an individual-driven (within-unit) force or as a unit-driven (cross-level) force—moderates the relationship between psychological empowerment and individual performance. Using a sample of 478 healthcare professionals from 78 hospital units, we found that psychological empowerment exhibited a positive relationship with subsequent individual performance at relatively high levels of psychological safety, whereas it exhibited a negative relationship at relatively low levels of psychological safety. We found that the interaction was strictly a cross-level effect after differentiating psychological safety effects across levels. Our results show it is not enough for individuals to perceive unit psychological safety for themselves, but those perceptions need to be shared with other members of the unit for psychological empowerment to yield individual performance benefits. We discuss the implications for future theory, research, and practice.