Supervisor Influence on Employee Psychological Safety in U.S. Federal Government Organizations: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how federal government employees of Hawaii described psychological safety and their supervisors' influence on psychological safety in the workplace. Transformational leadership theory and the psychosocial safety climate (PSC) theory served as the theoretical foundation for this study to explore the phenomenon of psychological safety in the workplace. Two research questions (RQs) were used during this investigation: 1) How do federal government employees describe psychological safety in their workplace? and 2) How do federal government employees describe their supervisors' influence on psychological safety in their workplace? The study targeted an estimated 12,053 employees in federal government organizations from the Federal Employees of the U.S. Government LinkedIn Group to achieve a total of 46 participants for the questionnaire that was delivered online through SurveyMonkey. Among the questionnaire participants, 14 participated in a follow-on Zoom interview. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted using Braun and Clarke's six-step process. As a result, six themes were identified to answer the RQs. The findings suggest that behavioral output, resulting from motivation and organization policy, affect how well employees contribute, express ideas, speak up, and engage in a psychologically safe workplace. For future research, it is recommended that this study be replicated to expand to different government populations and at all levels of government (e.g., local, state, federal) throughout the United States. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]