Trust, Workload, Outdoor Adventure Leadership, and Organizational Safety Climate

Abstract

The outdoor adventure leadership (OAL) field has an extensive body of work centered on individual safety performance, but much less at the organization level of analysis and assessment of organizational safety. Safety climate is a well-established construct and when measured can be indicative of employees’ perceptions of organizational safety and predictive of safety performance. This study employed a safety climate scale and surveyed 506 employees across ten United States OAL not-for-profit organizations. Dimensions of safety as a recognized value, and leadership and management for safety typically scored the highest across organizations. The Dimensions of safety as learning oriented, and safety as integrated into operations, typically scored the lowest. Trust in the organization and OAL delivery pressure, workload, and stress emerged as important indicators of safety climate at the organizational level. Directions for future research based upon this safety climate tool are identified.