Self-efficacy and Occupational Health and Safety of Ghanaian Auto Artisans: Examining the Moderation and Mediation Roles of Causal Attributions and Sense of Meaningfulness of Work

The study investigated self-efficacy as a predictor of safety performance of Ghanaian auto artisans, and examined the mediation roles of causal (external and internal) attributions and moderation role of work meaningfulness. One hundred and seventy-seven auto artisans were studied in a cross-sectional survey. The standard multiple regression analysis and Hayes process procedure for testing mediation and moderation were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that self-efficacy related positively while work meaningfulness had a negative relationship with safety performance of the auto artisans. Self-efficacy again related positively with causal attributions, while work meaningfulness related negatively with only internal causal attribution. Both external and internal causal attributions in turn had positive relationships with safety performance. Both internal and external attributions had full mediation effects on the effect of self-efficacy on safety performance. Perceived sense of meaningfulness of the work had a strong suppressing moderating effect on the effect of self-efficacy on safety performance. The study concluded that high self-efficacy engenders external causal attributions, which in turn results in more health and safety incidents at work. However, perception of work as being meaningful was a significant factor in reducing health and safety incidents. Occupational counselling is recommended to boost the sense of purpose and meaning that the artisans attach to their work as this has great implications for their safety performance.