Psychological safety climate and professional drivers' well-being: The mediating role of time pressure

Professional drivers are at risk of poor well-being, thus, research on how to prevent this
status has valuable practical implications. Psychological safety climate, individual percep-
tions of the safety climate, and time pressure are relevant antecedents of drivers’ well-
being. Psychological safety climate acts as a frame of reference for professional drivers
because they are remote/lone workers. Time pressure also becomes crucial among drivers
who reported higher quantitative job demands and work intensification than employees in
other industrial sectors. In addition, several theoretical frameworks suggest that psycho-
logical safety climate would minimize time pressure demands, which, in turn, would medi-
ate  the  relationship  between  psychological  safety  climate  and  drivers’  well-being.
Psychological safety climate would diminish time pressure demands because they could
be detrimental to safety, in turn, low time pressure demands would be accompanied by
an improvement in drivers’ well-being. To date, research on these issues is scarce.
This study examines the mediating role of time pressure on the psychological safety cli-
mate and drivers’ well-being (general health and lack of burnout) relationship. The sample
was composed of 367 professional drivers, and structural equation modeling was used to
test two competing models: full and partial mediation. Findings showed that psychological
safety climate was negatively associated with time pressure and positively with drivers’
general health and burnout. Time pressure was detrimental to drivers’ well-being, and it
partially  mediated  the  relationship  between  psychological  safety  climate  and  drivers’
well-being.