Psychological safety, motivations and change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour in emergency managers

Fostering change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (CO-OCB) is critical for resilience-building in the public sector, yet the psychological mechanisms driving such behaviour among emergency managers remain underexplored. Drawing on a survey of 869 public employees from emergency management agencies in China, this study examines how psychological safety, creative self-efficacy (CSE), and public service motivation (PSM) influence CO-OCB and tests the moderating role of work autonomy. Results reveal that psychological safety and PSM positively predict CO-OCB, whereas CSE unexpectedly suppresses the effect of psychological safety. Notably, work autonomy moderates the impacts of CSE and PSM on CO-OCB. These findings reveal how psychological safety shapes change-oriented behaviour through distinct but interrelated competence-related and motivational mechanisms within bureaucratic contexts. This study advances public-sector innovation theory by uncovering the nuanced role of psychological safety and by emphasizing the importance of public service motivation in enhancing organizational resilience during institutional reforms and crises.