Health Protection and Health Promotion Organizational Values and Regulatory Focus Theory

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Health Protection and Health Promotion
Organizational Values and Regulatory Focus Theory

• Lois E. Tetrick

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Occupational Safety

• Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
• Employers responsible for providing a safety and
  healthy workplace.
• Recognition that
• Exposure to occupational risks may be involuntary
• Risks may be beyond the individual employees
  control or detection

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• Engineering approach to reduction of hazards
• Remove the hazards
• Block access to hazards
• Change the physical work environment
• Change the tools and/or equipment
• Warn employees of hazards
• Train employees on how to avoid hazards

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• Behavior-based interventions
• Focus on changing individuals behavior
• Identification of critical safety behaviors
• Feedback and reinforcement
• Goal setting
• Communication among employees and supervisors

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Health Promotion

• Not directly legislated, at least in US
• Public health perspective, not specifically
  workplace related
• Health is the individuals responsibility
• Focus on preventing ill-health by changing
  unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors
• Weight loss
• Smoking cessation
• Fitness programs
• Reduction of health insurance costs

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Theoretical Approaches

• Behavior Modification
• Incentives
• Transtheoretical Model of Change
• Precontemplation
• Contemplation
• Preparation
• Action
• maintenance

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Values

• Enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct
  or end-state of existence is personally or
  socially preferable to an opposite or converse
  mode of conduct or end-state of existence
  Rokeach, 1973, p. 5
• Desirable transsituational goals, varying in
  importance, that serve as guiding principles in
  the life of a person or other social entity.
  Schwartz, 1994, p. 21

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Seven Higher-Order Organizational Values

• Innovation and risk-taking
• Stability
• Outcome or results orientation
• Attention to detail
• Aggressiveness and competitiveness
• Respect for people
• Collaborative and team orientation
• OReilly,
  Chatman, and Caldwell (1991)

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Self-Transcendence Benevolence Universalism
Conservatism Conformity Security Tradition
Openness to Change Self-Direction Stimulation Hedo
nism
Self-Enhancement Achievement Power
Schwartzs Value System, 1994
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Self-Transcendence or Harmony
Conservatism or Rules
Openness to Change or Risk
Self-Enhancement or Results
Borgs (2006) Integration of OReilly et al and
Schwartz
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Occupational SafetyHealth Protection

• Organizational Perspective
• Low level of openness to change
• High degree of conservatism
• High/low self-enhancement
• High degree of self-transcendence

• Individual Perspective
• Low level of openness to change
• High degree of conservatism
• High level of self-enhancement
• Low degree of self-transcendence

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Occupational Health Promotion

• Organizational Perspective
• High/low level of openness to change
• High degree of conservatism
• High/low self-enhancement
• High degree of self-transcendence

• Individual Perspective
• High level of openness to change
• High/low degree of conservatism
• High level of self-enhancement
• Low degree of self-transcendence

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Summary with Respect to Values

• From a theoretical perspective, there does not
  appear to be a clear case that the values
  underlying health protection and health promotion
  activities in the workplace are competing. This
  may depend on the underlying goals of the
  organizations implementing the programs and the
  individual employees.
• Research is needed to increase our understanding
  of the dynamics between values and health
  protection and health promotion programs and
  participation in such programs.

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Regulatory Focus Theory

• An alternative approach for viewing
• occupational safety and health?

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Regulatory Focus

• Prevention Focus
• Pain avoidance
• Security needs
• Ought self
• Responsibilities
• Loss non-loss perspective
• Avoid negative outcomes
• Vigilance

• Promotion Focus
• Pleasure seeking
• Nurturance needs
• Ideal self
• Achievement
• Gain non-gain perspective
• Seek positive outcomes
• Eagerness

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Regulatory Focus (cont.)

• Prevention Focus
• Minimize errors of commission
• Complete tasks accurately
• Conservative bias to decisions
• Experience quiescence or agitation with success
  and failure, respectively
• Preference for stability
• Constant across temporal focus

• Promotion Focus
• Maximize hits
• Complete tasks quickly
• Risky bias to decisions
• Experience cheerfulness or dejection with success
  and failure, respectively
• Openness to change
• More important when looking in the future

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Extension to Occupational Safety and Health

• Prevention Focus
• Safety
• Avoidance of injury
• Short-term perspective on health (avoiding
  danger)
• Avoiding unsafe behavior removing hazards
• Adherence to safety rules and regulations

• Promotion Focus
• Health
• Well-being enhancement
• Long-term perspective on health (healthy
  behaviors)
• Engaging in new health-related behavior
  (exercise)
• Developing new ways to enhance well-being

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Integration of Values Perspectiveand Regulatory
Focus Theory

• Values
• High importance on end states
• Tendency to behave consistently with those end
  states
• Relatively enduring
• Less situationally specific
• Regulatory Foci
• Reflect relative importance placed on end states
  or prevention/promotion goals
• Guide behavior
• More temporal and can be primed

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• Promotion Focus related to
• Openness to change
• Risky bias in decision making

• Prevention Focus related to
• Preference for stability
• Conservative bias to decisions

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Values Openness vs Conservatism Self-Enhancement
vs Transcendence
Goals Health
Goals Safety
Prevention Focus
Promotion Focus
Prevention Focus
Promotion Focus
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Summary

• Values and Regulatory Focus may be useful in
  understanding employees safety and health
  behaviors.
• More research is needed.

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• Thank you!
• I would welcome
• comments, suggestions, ideas..