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Item Essays on corporate social responsibility : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance, School of Accountancy, Economics and Finance, Massey University(Massey University, 2025-09-18) Zhang, XiaochiThis thesis comprises three essays advancing the literature on workplace safety, an important component of corporate social responsibility. The first essay examines how generalist CEOs with transferable managerial skills enhance workplace safety. These executives improve safety by optimizing labor investments, reducing employee workloads, and ensuring higher information quality. The relation is more pronounced among firms facing financing constraints or intense market competition. The study also shows that workplace injuries and illnesses reduce innovation, productivity, and firm value. The second essay explores the impact of shareholder distraction on workplace safety. Distracted shareholders are linked to higher rates of work-related injuries, especially in firms with weak governance and high competition risks. Our findings suggest that reduced monitoring by distracted shareholders leads to lower safety investments, increased workloads, and greater earnings management, resulting in a poorer safety environment. The third essay investigates how the inclusion of general counsel in top management improves employee safety. Firms with general counsel in senior leadership are associated with lower injury and illness rates. The relation is more pronounced for firms with better information quality, more efficient labor investment, leadership by lawyer CEOs, weaker governance structures, and heightened agency problems. Overall, these essays provide new insights into how corporate leadership and governance influence workplace safety. The thesis offers contributions to the literature on workplace safety by addressing critical gaps in existing research. This work extends theoretical frameworks such as upper echelon theory by applying it to the domain of workplace safety. It also underscores the practical implications of aligning leadership capabilities and governance mechanisms to safeguard human capital, ultimately driving sustainable firm performance.Item Due diligence and psychosocial risk : examining the construction of compliance : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024-07-20) Deacon, Louise JoyNew Zealand’s Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 introduced two significant changes to the country’s work health and safety regulatory landscape: (1) it placed a duty upon officers to ensure that the business of which they are an officer complies with its duties under the Act; (2) it broadened the definition of health to include mental health. The latter inclusion confirmed the scope of the Act to apply to psychosocial risks at work. Despite the officers’ duties being lauded as a profound change to New Zealand’s regulatory landscape, there has been little research investigating how officers respond to these legal duties. Further, internationally, there are significant gaps in knowledge regarding the role senior company managers play in psychosocial risk management, particularly relating to the intersect of legal responsibilities and psychosocial risks. This research adopted a Foucauldian analytical approach to examine how ideas about compliance and psychosocial risks are constructed and organised. Specifically, the research questions led to an investigation of the ways in which officers conceptualised and carried out their due diligence duties as they applied to the protection of workers’ mental health and the implications thereof. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 24 officers of large companies operating in New Zealand. The findings indicate that officers tended to discursively construct risk in ways which frequently obfuscated causes of harm arising from work while also problematising the possibility of eliminating or minimising risks to workers. Further, through a process of “risk translation,” psychosocial risks were often transformed into risks which were individualised, psychologised and managerialised. This translative effect functioned to displace psychosocial risks with risks which were more recognisable and amenable to management and posed less challenge to management prerogative. In this way, a dominant construction of risk came to represent worker mental health as a cause of risk to the organisation and the object of compliance, rather than a consequence of psychosocial risk exposure. The resultant compliance responses may therefore be considered symbolic in that they represented attention to legal ideals while marginalising the management of risks arising from work. Thus, the potential of work health and safety legislation to regulate psychosocial harm arising from work was largely curtailed, highlighting the limits of self-regulation in a legal context characterised by uncertainty and ambiguity.Item Worker voice and the health and safety regulatory system in New Zealand : an interpretivist case study inquiry in the commercial construction industry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Farr, DeirdreThe importance of involving workers in effective management of workplace health and safety (WHS) risks is well established. Transforming this rhetoric into sustainable practice continues to be a global problem. The siloed nature of industrial relations, WHS, human resource management and organisational behaviour debates has resulted in researchers talking past each other. Consequently, there is a dearth of literature drawing WHS research into contemporary debates exploring a broad range of direct and indirect forms of ‘worker voice’. The purpose of this thesis is to determine how and why the current statutory framework is contributing to enhancing workers’ involvement in workplace decisions that affect their WHS outcomes. This interpretivist constructivist multiple-case study applies a Multidisciplinary Analytical Model of Worker Voice to demonstrate how a multidisciplinary approach bridges divides and facilitates rich understanding of a contemporary phenomenon. The thesis clarifies the ambiguity and misunderstanding of terms that influence the interpretation and enactment of duties in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). It identifies and maps the different forms of worker engagement, participation and representation (EP&R) that exist under the current statutory provisions in New Zealand, and more importantly, the influence of worker voice. This research enables us to understand how and under what conditions worker EP&R can thrive. The two-phase study involved semi-structured interviews with 14 key stakeholders at the macro and industry levels, and 31 case study participants in three large commercial construction organisations at the meso level. Secondary qualitative data sources included 12 observations, and public and organisational documents. Hermeneutic analysis and interpretation revealed how the current HSWA stimulated improvements in leadership and risk management. The characteristics of effective worker voice systems were co-constructed with the key stakeholders and developed into an EP&R Compliance Maturity Model of Worker Voice. This model highlighted proactive and reactive responses to the HSWA in the organisations operating in a low-union, high-risk context. The overarching perceptions of the HSWA reinvigorating interest in worker voice underpinned improvements in macro level tripartism and meso level engagement. However, traditional representation structures have been eroded rather than strengthened.Item Factors related to the cognitive appraisal of workplace health and safety change : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Hurley, Matt RaymondHealth and safety change is a critical and ongoing factor in New Zealand workplaces today, aiming to contribute to the enhanced health and safety performance of both organisations and society. There is a gap in the literature surrounding how and what factors relate to individual's responses to specific organisational change, such as safety-oriented change; the majority of literature focuses on restructuring and predominantly negatively experienced changes (Biggane, Allen, Amis, Fugate, & Steinbauer, 2017). We utilise the theory of cognitive appraisal (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) integrated with a job demands and resources approach (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001; Hobfoll, 1989) to explain why certain factors, such as Safety Climate, Role type, Perceived Scale of change, and Perceived Favourableness of change may relate to how individuals cognitively appraise change. Through the participation of 178 employees of various New Zealand organisations, within a multitude of industries and occupations, measures targeting the Perceived Scale at the personal and work unit level and Perceived Favourableness of change outcomes experienced, alongside measures of safety climate, challenge appraisal and threat appraisal with a number of demographic questions were distributed. Results demonstrated that Perceived Favourableness of change outcomes and Perceived Personal Scale of change played a key role in the appraisal process acting as situational factors predicting appraisal and emphasising the relevance of resource gain and its extrinsic and intrinsic value in change. Safety climate was found to not mediate responses to health and safety change, such as cognitive appraisal. Role type did not moderate appraisal. Findings indicated that organisations do not need to focus on developing a safety climate before implementing safety change and need to focus on perceptions of the scale and the favourable nature of change, utilising participation and involvement to achieve both desirable and functional change, and positive responses to the changes.Item Safety attitudes in New Zealand forestry : a thesis presented to Massey University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology(Massey University, 1994) Gibson, Richard JohnThis study examines the attitudes towards safety, held by workers, contractors, supervisors, and managers employed in the New Zealand forest industry. The study follows the framework offered by Purdham (1984, cited in Cox & Cox, 1991), which divides safety attitudes into safety hardware, safety software, people, and risk. After a review of the literature relating to these object areas, attitudes, and safety, a safety attitude questionnaire that was developed specifically for the study is described. The questionnaire was administered to 465 people working in the forest industry. The results suggested that the structure provided by Purdham, as well as Cox and Cox (1991) is not entirely apparent, however it can be used to evaluate safety attitudes. Attitudes towards safety hardware were very positive although a number of workers were unaware of the benefits of more recently developed personal protective equipment. Attitudes towards safety software were slightly negative. Many workers were unaware of safety policies and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, and were of the opinion that there was conflict between safety and other job demands. With regards to people, all groups surveyed had very good attitudes towards responsibility, and realised the importance of safety. Attitudes towards risk were reasonable, but knowledge of objective risk was poor. Results also suggested that the safety climate is rather negative, with many workers not believing that management or their work-mates were committed to safety. Management were also of the opinion that workers would not believe they were committed to safety. The survey found no relationship between individual attitudes and accident involvement. Training, education, and experience were also unrelated to accident involvement. Finally, management appear to be making attribution errors with regards to the cause of accidents. The implications of these findings for the forest industry, and safety research are discussed.Item Safety climate and the influence of leadership : a study of safety climate and the influence leadership training has on employee perceptions of health and safety : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Business Studies in Human Resource Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Brooks, Christopher DavidThe aim of this study is to understand the influence leadership has upon safety in the workplace as seen through the eyes of its employees. This research was undertaken in the Island City of Singapore and associated with a business owned by a Multi-National Corporation, (MNC), operating locally. The research was carried out as a reflection of the organisations safety climate, through a professionally available questionnaire mechanism. While research and theory contend that safety culture is enduring and possibly more difficult to assess, it is recognised that safety climate is measureable and is considered to be a reflection of safety culture. Theory also contends safety climate as being a snap shot of the organisations ‘mood’ at a single point in time and therefore has a short shelf life. It is also recognised that the background to this study is done acknowledging the continued debate surrounding the understanding and definitions associated with the concepts organisational culture & climate, safety culture & climate. Leadership theory and research points out the importance of leadership on employee behaviour and motivation. The organisations’ senior leadership underwent intervention training provided by the author based upon leadership theory of a transformational style and workplace best practice. A Safety Climate questionnaire was provided to the participating employees of the MNC business and was repeated following a three-month interval. The study was quantitative, longitudinal and comparative in nature. The participating employees forming a control group and an intervention group. Following the leadership training the Senior Leadership was associated only with the employee intervention group. Safety climate analysis was undertaken with the findings being a result of questionnaire responses. Prior to the research it was expected that the results of the research would provide useful future guidance for organisations and their leadership. The author believed that the study would help organisational leadership better understand and make full use of the influence they have. This knowledge would in turn provide leadership the requisite emphasis to improve workplace safety and employee’s perception through the influence leadership holds. The study’s hypothesis was that a discernible difference should be noted between the ensuing assessments due to improved leadership and the understanding of the influence it holds. The improved leadership influence will be reflected in employee’s perception of management and workplace safety as captured in the safety climate questionnaire. It was believed that this research should help provide the organisation greater understanding of both an organisations safety climate, and leadership culture. Through this research the organisation should also recognise the role leadership influence plays and that the utilisation of safety climate assessment can be a useful and predictive tool. That its use can play a part in the organisations endeavour to reduce workplace injuries and help reduce the associated escalating financial cost to both employees and the organisation of such injuries and loss. The outcome from the study found a positive correlation to the research question and hypothesis with the safety climate results indicating a positive improvement for the intervention group associated with the leadership influence, as a direct consequence of the intervention training. The safety climate measurement improved significantly for the surveyed dimension of Management Commitment and the other management specific areas. The Safety Climate Index improvement for the dimension of Management Commitment alone increased by 41.03% and an overall increase of 16.95% across all of the nine survey dimensions.Item The 'climates' of the logging industry : effects on safety, commitment, turnover, and accidents : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Soc. Sci.) in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 1999) Rothwell, Kelly ANew Zealand's logging industry is one of the country's largest exporting industries. With increased global competition and demands, work environments like the logging industry are finding that problems such as accidents and turnover rates are intensifying. Much research has been completed on accident and turnover rates, yet no decrease is apparent. New approaches in identifying reasons for such problems are therefore necessary. Gaining knowledge of the rationale for high turnover and accident rates (adverse activities) within the logging industry included investigating the general PC, group and organisational climate, safety climate, organisational commitment and intentions to quit (job behaviours/perceptions)of logging industry members. Field and Abelson's (1982) model asserts that PC can affect job behaviours/perceptions and adverse activities. Their 'new evolution' model of climate also argues that aggregation of psychological climate (PC) perceptions to gain evidence of group and organisational climate is possible if there is consensus in PC perceptions within groups and across organisations. Respondents were a heterogeneous group of contractors (n=6) and crew members (n=67) drawn from a list of Corporate and Woodlot crews provided by Carter Holt Harvey Limited and Fletcher Challenge Limited. The relationships between demographic variables and PC were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA's and Pearson r's correlations were also performed to analyse potential relationships between all the variables to determine effects on the adverse activities of the logging industry. The psychological climate, safety climate, organisational commitment, and intentions to turnover variables were found to be rather negative in direction. Aggregation of PC to group level climate proved unfruitful because of the lack of consensus within crews. However, organisational climate was evident across the logging industry. Some PC variables were found to be significantly related to safety climate variables, organisational commitment variables, and intention to quit variables. The contractors perceptions of the PC variables role ambiguity and workgroup friendliness and warmth were significantly related to crewmember turnover rates. Moreover, the contractors perceptions of the safety climate variable fatalism were significantly related to crewmember accident rates. The research limitations and implications were discussed along with recommendations for future research.Item Absorbing risk : an examination of health and safety policy and practice of survey workers in two New Zealand market research organisations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University(Massey University, 2002) Campbell, Jacquelyn AnnThis qualitative enquiry explores the health and safety issues of survey workers in New Zealand. There is a dearth of literature concerning the acceptance and absorption of risk in this work environment; this thesis discusses the extent to which these workers both recognise and absorb risks inherent in their occupation. It presents a study of survey workers from two national organisations fictitiously named OpinionQuest and MarketMatrix. Who are these people who knock on doors and phone for our opinions? Are there significant hazards, and are survey workers aware of these? Analysis of the data suggests that survey workers recognise some obvious risks such as dogs and verbal abuse. Yet, many are ill prepared for less predictable dangers, whether from attempted assault, overt sexual overtures, or the road washing away. Recommendations emerging from the research relate to the provision of cellphones; systems for tracking the whereabouts of employees working in the field; and adequate coverage, in training, of the full range of risks that survey workers may encounter. Survey workers are pivotal to the success of their organisations. Without them, the entire process would cease to function.Item An ergonomics analysis of manual versus chainsaw high ladder pruning of Pinus radiata in New Zealand : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University(Massey University, 1995) Ford, DaveTwo methods of ladder pruning Pinus radiata from 4.5 - 6.0 metres were compared using a cost-benefit approach within a framework provided by ergonomics. Chainsaw pruning is practiced in areas of New Zealand where large branches occur. The objectives of the research were to compare the costs and benefits of the two pruning techniques and provide recommendations as to whether or not the practice of chainsaw pruning should continue. These objectives were achieved by comparing the risk of injury, the physiological costs, the musculoskeletal costs, the productivity and the quality associated with the use of the two techniques. The general methods used to assess the relative costs and benefits of the two techniques were: l. Numeric descriptions of the 'risk' involved with each method of pruning 2. The use of a relative heart rate index to compare the physiological cost of the two techniques 3. Using questionnaires focusing on musculoskeletal pain and discomfort to assess any relative differences between the two techniques 4. Using continuous time study to quantify any difference in labour productivity between the two techniques 5. Sampling pruned trees to assess differences in the quality of work between manual and chainsaw pruning The research concludes that although both methods of pruning are hazardous, chainsaw pruning is more hazardous than manual pruning. Chainsaw and manual pruning were found to have the same physiological costs. Findings of the research indicate that manual pruning is not associated with a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort than chainsaw pruning on a yearly basis, although it is associated with a greater relative increase in BPD on a day to day basis and that this may lead to the development of musculoskeletal disease. Chainsaw pruning was found to be significantly more productive than manual pruning, although this was at the cost of quality. The research concludes by recommending that the use of chainsaw pruning should be limited to areas where the branches are demonstrably large. Further research is called for to compare the physiological and musculoskeletal costs of manual pruning in plantation areas of both large and small branch sizes. Further research is called for to compare the safety of two methods of chainsaw pruning with the use of the technique of wrapping one leg around the tree as opposed to not wrapping the leg around the tree. Research to investigate new ladder designs which are safer to use in the New Zealand forest environment is also called for.Item Solvent exposure characterisation in the collision repair industry in New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Public Health at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2013) Taptiklis, PhoebeBackground: Reviews of solvent exposure and neurotoxicity have identified the need for improved understanding of the characteristics of exposure in industries where workers are exposed to solvents (WHO 1985, Baker 1988, Mikkelson 1996, Meyer-Baron 2008). Subjects and Methods: This exposure assessment study was conducted in 16 collision repair workshops in the Wellington region of New Zealand, and included 100 air samples from 77 workers in 16 workshops and 76 urine samples from 18 workers. Air was analysed using gas chromatography for solvents and urine was analysed for hippuric acid, metabolite of toluene. Regression analyses were performed and an exposure model was defined. Results: The highly statistically significant multivariate exposure model with an R square value of .77 was able to explain almost 80% of the variance in the personal air exposure data. Significant associations between personal air solvent exposure and workshop ventilation characteristics were found: Gunwasher if placed in the workshop area without separate ventilation had a coefficient of 2.19 (1.34-3.59) and mixing room ventilation if floor level and away from the main mixing bench had a coefficient of 3.06 (1.51-6.19) compared with the reference category. Urine analysis did not show a statistically significant association with personal toluene or glove use. Conclusions: Workshop ventilation characteristics have a significant impact on individual exposures. Recommendations can be given to industry to help lower exposures and results can feed into the neurobehavioural study to aid exposure characterisation in this population. This study has shown that exposure characterisation using statistical methods is a plausible and useful way to assess relative weight across a spectrum of exposure sources, and to identify areas for effective intervention.