Safety Culture, Employee Well-Being and Engagement in the Oil Marketing Companies in Ghana.

Abstract

Weak safety culture has been identified as a common cause of many accidents in the oil marketing sector. This study examined the mediating role employee well-being on the relationship between safety culture and employee engagement in the oil marketing sector in Ghana. A mixed method approach and an explanatory research design were adopted for the study. Quantitative data was collected from 372 employees of the top three oil marketing companies in Ghana using questionnaires and analysed using partial least squares structural equations modelling (PLS-SEM). The qualitative data was collected using a semi-structured interview guide from six managers and analysed using Hyper RESEARCH 4.5.3 software. The results from the study showed that safety culture was high among the sampled employees, even though the behavioural dimension of safety culture was low. Also, the employees exhibited high levels of psychological well-being but physical well-being on the other hand was low. Again, the results suggested that employee engagement was high among the sampled employees. The qualitative analyses also corroborated the descriptive results for the first three objectives. The SEM results revealed that safety culture is positively related to employee well-being (both physical and psychological well-being) and employee engagement while employee well-being is also a positive predictor of the level of employee engagement in the sector. The dimensions of employee well-being were also found to partially mediate the relationship between safety culture and employee engagement. Consequently, it is recommended that continuous awareness creation about safety culture practices in the OMCs should be intensified while seeking to promote the well-being of employees and their engagement in the oil marketing sector.