Cultural Beliefs, Attitudes to Safety Rules and Perceived Safety Climate: a Study on a Sample of Workers of African Origin Living in France

Safety management in organizations takes too little account of the cultural heritage of workers. In France, the significant presence of workers of African origin in the workplace, due to globalization and the migration of populations, illustrates the internationalization of work in the country. This study analyzed the relationships between African cultural beliefs, attitudes to safety rules, and perceived safety climate in workers of African origin in France. Specifically, referring to the existing literature on these three dimensions (Ngueutsa et al., 2021; Auzoult and Ngueutsa, 2019; Zohar, 2010, respectively), we hypothesized that both reasoned acceptance of the rules and acceptance of the rules based on collective experience, mediate the effect of three dimensions of cultural beliefs - namely, beliefs related to the protection and celebration of life, to group identification and belonging, and to manifestations of joy - on perceived safety climate in these workers. The study was conducted by questionnaire on 219 workers from sub-Saharan Africa origin, living in France. Although preliminary analyses did not enable us to test our mediation hypothesis, results revealed that cultural beliefs relating to the protection and celebration of life and those related to group identification and belonging predicted reasoned acceptance of the rules. Similarly, reasoned acceptance of the rules determined the perceived safety climate. Reasoned acceptance of the rules, cultural beliefs related to safety issues and to cultural identities appears to be determinants of safety climate. In a multicultural professional context, cultural heritage of workers should be taken into account when designing safety management practices.