Linking Workplace Safety to Operational Disruptions: A Moderated Mediation Analysis in Commercial Vessels

Little is known about the mechanism of how workplace safety may affect operational disruptions manifested as unplanned maintenance in commercial vessels. Building upon the high reliability organization theory as a broad framework, we propose that workplace safety climate influences how employees identify and report errors at work. Specifically, no-blame error reporting mediates the relationship between safety climate and unplanned maintenance in vessels. Additionally, we posit that the mediation effect varies among vessels in that it is stronger (weaker) in newer (older) vessels that are easier (harder) to maintain operationally. We test the moderated mediation framework at the vessel level of analysis using an archival survey data with multiple responses from 1,169 crewmembers in 86 marine vessels. Our results lend support to the mediation effect in that safety climate facilitates no-blame error reporting, which subsequently reduces the frequency of unplanned maintenance. In particular, the effect of safety climate on unplanned maintenance is fully mediated by no-blame error reporting. As vessel owners attempt to maximize their return on investments in aging ships, the mediation effect shows a high level of safety climate in a vessel is indirectly associated with a significantly lower level of unplanned maintenance rate relative to a similar age vessel but with an average level of safety climate. However, the mediation effect weakens as a vessel ages. This study contributes to important insights into how safety climate can reduce operational disruptions (unplanned maintenance events) through error reporting behaviors, contingent upon the age of ocean carriers in logistics companies.