IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v215y2025ics0040162525001234.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How and when digital transformation intensity influences employees' safety-related helping behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Lu, Hongxu
  • Wu, Ting
  • Yao, Xin-Miao
  • Huangfu, Chen-Ming

Abstract

In the context of safety management in safety-critical organizations, this study leveraged the job demands–resources model to scrutinize the divergent effects of digitalization on safety-related helping behavior. A two-stage survey of 367 employees from 41 teams in a safety-critical organization revealed that the employees' self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between the intensity of digital transformation and safety-related helping behavior, whereas ego depletion mediated the negative relationship between the intensity of digital transformation and safety-related helping behavior. In addition, employees' positive perception of the organization's motivation for adopting digitalization amplified the indirect effect of the intensity of digital transformation on safety-related helping behavior via self-efficacy, while diminishing this indirect effect via ego depletion. These findings help to deepen the current understanding of the relationship between digitalization and employees' safety-related helping behaviors, and provide suggestions for managers in safety-critical organizations on how to use digital technologies to encourage employees to help each other in safety management. We emphasize that it is important for organizations to ensure that employees understand that digital transformation are motivated by a desire to help them avoid safety hazards, rather than to supervise them in safety management.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu, Hongxu & Wu, Ting & Yao, Xin-Miao & Huangfu, Chen-Ming, 2025. "How and when digital transformation intensity influences employees' safety-related helping behaviors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:215:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001234
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162525001234
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124092?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raveendhran, Roshni & Fast, Nathanael J., 2021. "Humans judge, algorithms nudge: The psychology of behavior tracking acceptance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 11-26.
    2. Ancillai, Chiara & Sabatini, Andrea & Gatti, Marco & Perna, Andrea, 2023. "Digital technology and business model innovation: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Rubbio, Iacopo & Bruccoleri, Manfredi, 2023. "Unfolding the relationship between digital health and patient safety: The roles of absorptive capacity and healthcare resilience," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    4. Ed Clark & Anna Soulsby, 2007. "Understanding Top Management and Organizational Change Through Demographic and Processual Analysis," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(6), pages 932-954, September.
    5. Zhou, Dan & Kautonen, Mika & Dai, Weiqi & Zhang, Hui, 2021. "Exploring how digitalization influences incumbents in financial services: The role of entrepreneurial orientation, firm assets, and organizational legitimacy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. Gao, Ronnie (Chuang Rang) & Murphy, William H. & Anderson, Rolph E., 2020. "Transformational leadership effects on salespeople’s attitudes, striving, and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 237-245.
    7. Donate, Mario J. & González-Mohíno, Miguel & Paolo Appio, Francesco & Bernhard, Fabian, 2022. "Dealing with knowledge hiding to improve innovation capabilities in the hotel industry: The unconventional role of knowledge-oriented leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 572-586.
    8. Broccardo, Laura & Zicari, Adrián & Jabeen, Fauzia & Bhatti, Zeeshan A., 2023. "How digitalization supports a sustainable business model: A literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Peter J Jordan & Ashlea C Troth, 2020. "Common method bias in applied settings: The dilemma of researching in organizations," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(1), pages 3-14, February.
    10. Malik, Ashish & Froese, Fabian Jintae, 2022. "Corruption as a perverse Innovation: The dark side of digitalization and corruption in international business," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 682-693.
    11. Xiao Yuan & Yaoshan Xu & Yongjuan Li, 2020. "Resource Depletion Perspective on the Link Between Abusive Supervision and Safety Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 213-228, February.
    12. Zeng, Huixiang & Ran, Hangxin & Zhou, Qiong & Jin, Youliang & Cheng, Xu, 2022. "The financial effect of firm digitalization: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    13. Ostmeier, Esther & Strobel, Maria, 2022. "Building skills in the context of digital transformation: How industry digital maturity drives proactive skill development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 718-730.
    14. Peter Duchessi & Robert O'Keefe & Daniel O'Leary, 1993. "A Research Perspective: Artificial Intelligence, Management and Organizations," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 2(3), pages 151-159, August.
    15. Francesco Paolo Appio & Antonella Martini & Antonio Messeni Petruzzelli & Paolo Neirotti & Bart van Looy, 2017. "Search mechanisms and innovation: An analysis across multiple perspectives," Post-Print halshs-02292314, HAL.
    16. Farrell, Andrew M., 2010. "Insufficient discriminant validity: A comment on Bove, Pervan, Beatty, and Shiu (2009)," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 324-327, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Ruihan & Li, Xiaodong & Yan, Xin & Bian, Yiwen, 2024. "Does customer concentration matter in business model value: Threshold effects of carbon emissions and dynamic capabilities?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    2. Jiajia Liu & Kexin Zhou & Ye Zhang & Fangcheng Tang, 2023. "The Effect of Financial Digital Transformation on Financial Performance: The Intermediary Effect of Information Symmetry and Operating Costs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Wang, Kui & He, Junjia & Zhang, Xiaodan & Xiang, Diandian & Zhang, Ping, 2025. "Unraveling the performance puzzle of digital transformation: The moderating role of TMT heterogeneity and faultline strength," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    4. Radicic, Dragana & Petković, Saša, 2023. "Impact of digitalization on technological innovations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Rizzati, Massimiliano & Landoni, Matteo, 2024. "A systematic review of agent-based modelling in the circular economy: Insights towards a general model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 617-631.
    6. Cătălin Grădinaru & Sorin-George Toma & Ștefan Catană & Gabriela Andrișan, 2020. "A view on transformational leadership: The case of Jeff Bezos," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 31(1), pages 93-100, December.
    7. Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Rahat, Birjees & Naqvi, Bushra & Umar, Muhammad, 2024. "Revolutionizing finance: The synergy of fintech, digital adoption, and innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    8. Malewska, Kamila & Cyfert, Szymon & Chwiłkowska-Kubala, Anna & Mierzejewska, Katrzyna & Szumowski, Witold, 2024. "The missing link between digital transformation and business model innovation in energy SMEs: The role of digital organisational culture," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Vishal K. Gupta & Suman Niranjan & Banu A. Goktan & John Eriskon, 2016. "Individual entrepreneurial orientation role in shaping reactions to new technologies," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 935-961, December.
    10. Zahoor, Nadia & Zopiatis, Anastasios & Adomako, Samuel & Lamprinakos, Grigorios, 2023. "The micro-foundations of digitally transforming SMEs: How digital literacy and technology interact with managerial attributes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Heena Thanki & Sweety Shah & Harishchandra Singh Rathod & Ankit D. Oza & Dumitru Doru Burduhos-Nergis, 2022. "I Am Ready to Invest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) Options Only If the Returns Are Not Compromised: Individual Investors’ Intentions toward SRI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    12. Cherbib, Jihene, 2024. "Exploring the interplay between entrepreneurial orientation, causation and effectuation under unexpected covid-19 uncertainty: Insights from large French banks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    13. Fu, Chao & Luo, Dianying & Zhang, Jiaoshu & Li, Wenxia, 2025. "Tax incentives, marketization level, and corporate digital transformation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    14. Mir Dost & Waheed Ali Umrani, 2024. "Managerial Proactiveness, Frugal Innovation and Firm Performance," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 33(2), pages 393-417, May.
    15. Zhou, Yuwen & Shi, Xin, 2025. "How does digital technology adoption affect corporate employment? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    16. Hiran, Kamal Kant & Dadhich, Manish, 2024. "Predicting the core determinants of cloud-edge computing adoption (CECA) for sustainable development in the higher education institutions of Africa: A high order SEM-ANN analytical approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    17. Dwivedi, Abhishek & Pawsey, Nicholas, 2023. "Examining the drivers of marketing innovation in SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    18. Tang, Xinhui & Du, Shujun & Deng, Wenwen, 2025. "Business innovation in digital startups: A case study of an AI startup," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    19. Luo, Haohan & Wang, Haijun & Wu, Ying, 2023. "Advertising and corporate cash holdings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    20. Khaled Naser Yousef Magableh & Selvi Kannan & Aladeen Yousef Rashid Hmoud, 2024. "Innovation Business Model: Adoption of Blockchain Technology and Big Data Analytics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-25, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:215:y:2025:i:c:s0040162525001234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.