A study of the relationship between silence climate, psychological safety, and silence behavior of employees

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between silence climate, psychological safety and silence behavior of universityemployees. The study was descriptive -correlational and survey one. The statistical population included all the employees ofthe Alzahra university during the academic year 2013-2014 (N =468). Among them, 211cases were selected andtested through simple random sampling technique. Three questionnaires, namely “psychological safety” (Edmonson, 1999), “silence climate” (2005) and “silence behavior” (2005) were used to collect data. Questionnaires validity was approved by academic experts. The reliability ofthe questionnairesusing Cronbach's alphawas calculated as 0.80, 0.89 and 0.90 respectively. The one-samplet-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise regressionand path analysis were used to analyze data by means of SPSSandLISREL softwares. Resultsshowed that there was a significant negative relationshipbetween silence climate and psychologicalsafety(r=-0.485), and a negative relationship between psychological safety andsilence behavior (r=-0.464).Theresults also suggestedthat the silence climate directly and throughpsychological safety mediationhas a significantimpacton the silence behavior.