Perception of just culture and its association with work-related psychosocial factors in an Iranian industrial setting: Implications for prevention of errors

Background: A just culture is one in which the reporting of errors and near misses is supported without fear of retribution. The relationship of just culture and psychosocial factors at work has not been explored sufficiently in the literature.

Objective: To investigate the perception of just culture and its association with socio-demographic and work-related psychosocial factors among 302 employees in an industrial setting in Iran.

Methods: Just culture was assessed using the Just Culture Assessment Tool, and the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire was used for evaluation of psychosocial work factors (including influence at work, meaning of work, commitment to the workplace, predictability, rewards, quality of leadership, social support from supervisors, trust, and justice and respect). Data were analysed using t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and general linear regression analysis.

Results: The results indicated that the employees had a fairly positive view on their organisation's just culture, though there were some areas such as trust and balance that needed further attention. The psychosocial issues (particularly commitment to the workplace, meaning of work, social support from supervisors, and rewards) were not adequate from the employees' perspective. Predictability, rewards, and quality of leadership, were the significant psychosocial predictors of just culture in a multivariate regression model.

Conclusions: The findings highlight the areas that need to be considered to improve the experience of organisational just culture, which is important from the point of view of prevention of safety errors and incidents.