Psychological safety and Chinese PreK-12 teachers organizational citizenship behavior: the mediating role of interpersonal trust

TL;DR

This study explores how psychological safety influences teachers' positive workplace behaviors in China through increased interpersonal trust.

Contribution

The study identifies interpersonal trust as a partial mediator between psychological safety and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese PreK-12 teachers.

Findings

Psychological safety and interpersonal trust are both positively linked to organizational citizenship behavior.

Interpersonal trust partially mediates the relationship between psychological safety and organizational citizenship behavior.

The findings suggest ways to improve teachers' positive workplace behaviors through fostering psychological safety and trust.

Abstract

While the positive association between psychological safety and organizational citizenship behavior has been well established, the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain insufficiently explored, especially in the context of Chinese PreK-12 education. This study aims to examine the potential mediating role of interpersonal trust in explaining how psychological safety relates to organizational citizenship behavior among PreK-12 teachers in China.

Data were collected from 620 PreK-12 teachers across China through an anonymous online survey. Participants provided their demographic information and completed validated scales measuring psychological safety, interpersonal trust, and organizational citizenship behavior. The survey data were then analyzed to test the proposed mediating effect of interpersonal trust.

The results indicated that both psychological safety and interpersonal trust were positively correlated with organizational citizenship behavior. Further mediating effect analysis revealed that interpersonal trust played a partial mediating role in the relationship between psychological safety and organizational citizenship behavior. Specifically, psychological safety promotes organizational citizenship behavior in part by enhancing teachers' interpersonal trust.

These findings provide a clear conceptual pathway for understanding how to foster organizational citizenship behavior among Chinese PreK-12 teachers. The study discusses the theoretical contributions of revealing the partial mediating role of interpersonal trust, the practical implications for improving teachers' organizational citizenship behavior in PreK-12 educational settings, and the limitations of the current research.

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