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發言或緘默：心理安全與自我效能在社會資本影響社群網站使用者知識分享行為上所扮演的中介角色
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is interpersonal context specific and related to the social capital of an individual. This means
that psychological safety differs when people interact in different interpersonal contexts and
results in different individual levels of social capital. The first three dimensions address
characteristics of interactions among individuals and the social capital they derive from these
interactions; the fourth reflects the rules that shape an individual’s behavior. In addition,
Edmondson (2004) indicates five similar dimensions of psychological safety: trusting and
respectful interpersonal relationships, organizational interpersonal context support, leader
behavior, emergent group dynamics, and practice fields. Both Kahn (1990) and Edmondson
(2004) studies center on the interpersonal environment in which individuals feel safe (or
unsafe) to interact with others.
First, according to Kahn (1990) four-dimensional framework, when people believe that
their interpersonal relationships are supportive and trustworthy, they have a sense of
psychological safety and thus have more confidence in self-expression without fear or threat.
However, people who feel little connection with other members perceive a lower level of
psychological safety and tend to be silent. Second, Kahn’s group and intergroup dynamics
dimension represents the informal roles that affect members’ psychological safety
experience. In the workplace, depending on level of authority, competition, or gender,
members tend to play informal and unconscious roles. As Kahn (1990) depicts in his
architecture company study, the president plays the father role, supporting functional-level
members play the mother role, and other members play the child roles. When cast into these
roles, individuals vary in how much they engage in work role performances (Minuchin,
1974). Members’ psychological safety experience varies and depends on the roles they play
in the workplace. Third, beyond the informal roles, the formal power structure in the
workplace can also affect members’ perceptions of psychological safety. Research has shown
that supportive managerial behavior has a positive effect on creativity (Amabile, Conti,
Coon, Lazenby, and Herron, 1996; Deci, Connell, and Ryan, 1989). Creativity is a form of
self-expression, so it is likely to involve some degree of psychological safety in the
workplace. Thus, supportive managerial behavior can also enhance psychological safety.
Fourth, organizational norms are shared expectations about the general behaviors of
members in a social system (Hackman, 1986). Psychological safety is related to role
performances that clearly lie within the boundaries of organizational norms. Individuals feel
more psychologically safe when their behavior stays within the organizational norms. As
such, well-defined organizational norms can enrich individuals’ psychological safety
experiences.