To Get Vaccinated or Not? Psychological Safety as a Catalyst for the Alignment Between Individual Beliefs and Behavior

Abstract

While many studies have investigated the consequences of psychological safety for behavior, there is little theorizing on the mechanisms that account for these effects. Since psychological safety makes individuals feel safe to express their true self, we argue that it should act as a catalyst for alignment between individual beliefs and behavior. Drawing on the reasoned action model, we postulate that psychological safety interacts with individuals’ attitudes and perceived norms in predicting intention and behavior. We tested our model with physicians’ influenza vaccination behavior. We surveyed 208 physicians from a Swiss hospital before and after the vaccination phase. Results show that the effect of attitude, but not perceived norm, on intention to get vaccinated was moderated by perceived psychological safety in the physicians’ team: High psychological safety strengthened the effect of physicians’ attitude on their intention, which in turn predicted actual vaccination behavior. We provide first evidence that high psychological safety may render individuals more comfortable to act in accordance with their attitudes. Depending on whether attitudes are in line with organizational goals, increasing psychological safety could facilitate positive or negative consequences. This more differentiated understanding of psychological safety can fruitfully inform both future research and organizational practice.

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“…The complex and dynamic nature of healthcare settings means that healthcare professionals must feel comfortable negotiating and discussing a variety of complex and/or sensitive issues. Similar to conclusions made by Stühlinger et al (2021), our findings highlight that, along with removing barriers to speaking up, we must address individually held attitudes toward speaking up. It is vital that interventions to improve psychological safety target individuals' attitudes toward dealing with sensitive issues.…”

What Prompts Doctors to Recommend COVID-19 Vaccines: Is It a Question of Positive Emotion?

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Psychological and situational factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention among postpartum women in Pakistan: a cross-sectional study

“…66 Attitude towards a health-related behaviour such as getting a vaccine is positively related to intention to perform that behaviour. 67 Although the uptake of health behaviours such as vaccination is highly related to the individual’s intention, 68 69 based on previous experience with influenza vaccination, intention towards receiving a vaccine is usually greater than the actual vaccine uptake rate. 70 71 Hence, those who intend to uptake a vaccine also benefit from these public health programmes designed to increase vaccine uptake.…”

“…According to the theory of reasoned action, the major predictors of intentions are attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norms concerning the behaviour and perceived behavioural control 66. Attitude towards a health-related behaviour such as getting a vaccine is positively related to intention to perform that behaviour 67. Although the uptake of health behaviours such as vaccination is highly related to the individual’s intention,68 69 based on previous experience with influenza vaccination, intention towards receiving a vaccine is usually greater than the actual vaccine uptake rate 70 71.…”

“…66 Attitude towards a health-related behaviour such as getting a vaccine is positively related to intention to perform that behaviour. 67…”