Citation

Lacroix DV, DeJoy DM. J. Occup. Accid. 1989; 11(2): 97-109.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

LaCroix, D.V. and DeJoy, D.M., 1989. Causal attributions to effort and supervisory response to workplace accidents. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 11: 97-109.An experimental study was conducted to examine how those in supervisory roles differentiate between various internal and external causes in attributing responsibility and selecting remedies for workplace accidents. Special interest was with the hypothesized importance of causal attributions to effort in organizational settings. Subjects read industrial accident reports which varied in terms of causal locus (internal/external), causal stability (stable/unstable), and outcome severity (mild/severe). Internal causes produced greater worker responsibility and more worker-directed corrective actions; however, subjects did not "single out" effort in assigning responsibility or recommending corrective actions. Worker-directed remedies were also considered more appropriate when stable causes were involved. Outcome severity did not substantially affect either responsibility attribution or remedy selection. Ratings of the importance of the causal factors indicated that subjects "over-attributed" to effort and relied on this factor even when conflicting causal data were provided. Stable causes produced somewhat less optimistic expectations concerning future safety performance. Expectations were most optimistic when external causes and severe outcomes were involved. The implications of these findings for safety management are discussed.