Designing a model of psychological security of knowledge workers in organizations (case study: Tehran Municipality)

KGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Knowledge workers are people whose work is highlighted by the continuous and systematic development of organizational knowledge through the discovery mechanism and creation of new knowledge. The number of knowledge workers is increasing in today’s organizations, and proper conditions must be provided for their activities. Also, effective use of knowledge workers requires optimal psychological safety for them. So far, not so many studies have investigated psychological safety, especially for knowledge workers, and there is an obvious research gap in this field. Therefore, the innovation of this research is to increase knowledge about the psychological safety of knowledge workers and to create local and practical knowledge in the mentioned field.METHODS: This research aims to design a psychological safety model for knowledge workers in the Tehran Municipality. The applied-developmental purpose aspect of this research puts it in the category of mixed (method) research. In the qualitative phase, a semi-structured method of interviewing experts, and thematic analysis techniques were used to design the research model. ۱۸ experts from Tehran Municipality were purposefully selected to participate in the interviews. The model of the research was validated by structural equation modeling and Smart PLS software in the quantitative phase. For this purpose, ۱۱۰ managers and specialists of Tehran Municipality were surveyed using a questionnaire.RESULTS: The results indicated that the personal, interpersonal, occupational, managerial, organizational, and spiritual dimensions are ۶ dimensions that influence the psychological safety of knowledge workers in organizations. Also, several antecedents, moderating factors, and consequences were identified, which were created based on the identified variables of the research model. Also, the coefficient of determination was calculated as ۰.۷۴۰ for the psychological safety variable and ۰.۷۱۱ for the outcomes variable, based on the results of structural equation modeling, which indicates optimal values.CONCLUSION: Ultimately, the results of the research indicated that the psychological safety of knowledge workers is a complicated, multidimensional, and a dynamic phenomenon, and achieving it requires considering several factors and components, and of course, it brings valuable results.

کلیدواژه ها:

Knowledge Workers ، mental health ، psychological safety ، Tehran municipality ، thematic analysis