Date of Award
2025
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (School of Business and Law)
Abstract
In recent years there has been an increasing global focus on psychosocial hazard management in workplaces. Many jurisdictions have implemented regulations to specify and enforce organisations obligations to eliminate or mitigate psychosocial hazard exposure for workers. These are important initiatives given the significant physical and psychological health consequences that workers can experience when exposed to psychosocial risks. In December 2022 Western Australia implemented updated Work Health and Safety regulations to protect workers from psychosocial hazard exposure, which accompanied a previously published Code of Practice for Psychosocial Hazards. The safety regulator has recommended a systematic approach is utilised by organisations to meet their regulatory obligations to address psychosocial hazards.
The first aim of this study was, given the Work Health and Safety regulation changes in Western Australia in December 2022, to understand what worker’s experiences of psychosocial safety at work are. The second aim was to identify if workers perceive that psychosocial safety at work is being addressed using a systematic approach in organisations. The study approached these aims through both self-determination theory and systems thinking theoretical perspectives.
A qualitative methodology was utilised, with 22 semi-structured interviews with participants, including workers in both employee and leadership roles, from various organisations across Western Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop six overall themes, encompassing 18 sub-themes. This study adds to existing literature in identifying the presence of psychosocial hazards in workplaces and that psychosocial risk can have detrimental impacts on the physical and psychological health of workers, particularly for workers of diverse identity. This study also supports previous research in identifying that a systematic approach to addressing psychosocial safety can be of benefit, in this instance according to workers; including some participants who had personally benefited from the protections offered from the implementation of regulations. In addition to supporting this existing literature, this study presents four new contributions to knowledge. These are firstly, identifying how workers can feel isolated in addressing psychosocial safety, especially leaders; secondly, that organisations do not appear to be addressing psychosocial safety from a systematic approach; thirdly identifying the significant role that silence plays in hindering the implementation of the updated work health and safety regulations, and fourth that intersectionality affects workers’ experience of psychosocial safety by exacerbating silence and imposing barriers to accessing support within a system.
In designing this study, decisions were made which limited the scope of the research and could inform future studies. As different jurisdictions are adopting psychosocial hazard regulations in different ways and along varied timeframes, this study focused on Western Australian workers only. Future research could compare these results with other Australian states and international jurisdictions to seek to understand any identified differences in the experience of workers and their perception of systematic approaches implemented in organisations. This study was conducted in English, including all written materials from advertisement through to the interviews. Given one of the study’s findings relates to the complexity of psychosocial hazard exposure and intersectionality, extending accessibility through language could be examined further in future studies.
This current study presents recommendations for how organisations can adopt a systematic approach that enhances intrinsic motivation of employees and leaders to address psychosocial hazards in the workplace. The study concludes with suggestions for future research and actions which could be undertaken by the regulator to support organisations in undertaking a systematic approach.
Publication Details
Broomhall, N. R. (2025). Workers Experiences of Psychosocial Safety through a Systems Thinking and Self-Determination Theory Lens [Doctor of Philosophy (School of Business and Law)]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/491