The Moderating Effect of Organizational Safety Climate on Text Message Use and Work-Related Accidents

Employers’ increased acceptance and use of mobile technology has provided employees with the ability to be in constant contact with their employer and clients through multiple communication platforms. While mobile technology has increased employee productivity, research is beginning to show an association between an upward trend of mobile technology use to an increase of fatal and nonfatal accidents. The purpose of this study was to determine if organizational safety climate influences the relationship between text message use and work-related accidents. A significant relationship was found between text message use and work-related accidents. However, there was no statistically significant main effect of organizational safety climate on work-related accidents, or interaction effect of text message use and organizational safety climate on work-related accidents. Additional research is recommended to investigate the relationships between the variables – both quantitative with larger and more diverse samples and qualitative for more in depth information about the phenomenon.