Problematic internet use and safety behavior: The moderating role of safety climate

RESEARCH ARTICLE Problematic internet use and safety behavior: The moderating role of safety climate Fakhradin Ghasemi1, Hamed AghaeiID2*, Asghar NikraveshID3 1 Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran, 2 Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran, 3 Department of HSE, Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company, Kerman, Iran * hamedaghaeih@gmail.com Abstract Problematic internet use (PIU) can cause mental and physical harm to individuals and may be an emerging factor contributing to unsafe work behavior. In this study, the relationship between PIU and safety behavior was investigated. Moreover, it was hypothesized that safety climate can moderate the relationship between PIU and safety behavior. Participants were employees from a mining industry in Iran. Three validated questionnaires were distrib- uted to gather the required data regarding PIU, safety climate, and safety behavior. Hierar- chical regression analysis was used to assess the moderating effect of safety climate on the relationship between PIU and safety behavior. The size of moderation effect was assessed using f2 index. Four hundred eighty-five employees participated in this study. The results demonstrated a negative relationship between PIU and safety behavior. The moderating effect of safety climate on the relationship between PIU and safety behavior was supported. The f2 index was 0.027 which demonstrates a small moderation effect. In conclusion, PIU

has a significant negative effect on the safety behavior of employees. Providing a strong safety climate can be a long-term solution for reducing the negative effect of PIU on safety behavior. Introduction Safety behavior refers to those behaviors which are in line with safety standards, rules, norms, and policies of the organization. Lack of safety behavior can make organizations prone to acci- dents [1, 2]. The contribution of unsafe work behaviors to most industrial accidents has been asserted by many studies [1, 3, 4]. There are many factors causing employees to engage in unsafe work behavior. These factors have been discussed by many studies and several remedies also have been developed. However, the ever-changing world can create new factors affecting the safety behavior of employees at workplaces. One of these factors is the omnipresence of the Internet and digital devices such as laptops, mobile phones, and tablets [5]. Nowadays, most people have continuous access to the internet and online information. The attracting nature of such information can lead to “problematic internet use (PIU)”. PIU is defined as “the intemperate utilize of the Internet that disrupts or harms the individ- ual” [5]. Organizations confront productivity losses as a result of workers’ association in PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279767 December 30, 2022 1 / 13 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Ghasemi F, Aghaei H, Nikravesh A (2022) Problematic internet use and safety behavior: The

moderating role of safety climate. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279767. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0279767 Editor: Hans-Uwe Dahms, Kaohsiung Medical University, TAIWAN Received: February 26, 2022 Accepted: December 14, 2022 Published: December 30, 2022 Copyright: © 2022 Ghasemi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.