Relationship between National Culture and Safety Behaviour: Evidence from Petrochemical Employees in Saudi Arabia

Engineering, Project, and Production Management

EPPM 2014 Conference Papers

Relationship between National Culture and Safety Behaviour: Evidence from Petrochemical Employees in Saudi Arabia

Ayedh Alshahrani¹ , Kriengsak Panuwatwanich² , and Sherif Mohamed³

¹ PhD candidate, Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, Queensland, Australia 4222, Tel: +617-5552-9057, E-mail: a.alshahrani@griffith.edu.au
² Senior Lecturer, Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, Queensland, Australia 4222, Tel: +617-5552-7357, E-mail: k.panuwatwanich@griffith.edu.au
³ Professor, Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, Queensland, Australia 4222, Tel: +617-5552-8575, E-mail: k.panuwatwanich@griffith.edu.au

Abstract:Saudi Arabia relies heavily on its petroleum-related industries, including petrochemicals and refining, which are undoubtedly the lifeblood for the Saudi economy. Given major petrochemical accidents can be catastrophic, with significant emotional and economic impacts on businesses, families, and societies, safety management within the industry is paramount. Petrochemical industry in Saudi Arabia is a multinational company operating in 40 countries with over 40,000 employees. In any workforce, ignoring cultural differences is a serious cause of misunderstandings and, as a result and conflict. Moreover, safety behaviour is considered as the foundation of underlying safety activities that must be established by employees permitting the occupational, safety and health requirements to circumvent accidents at workplace. Within the current body of knowledge, empirical studies on the impact of national culture on safety attitudes, behaviour and performance seem to be limited. This paper presents a research study aiming to examine the relationship between national culture and safety behaviour within the context of petrochemical industry. The study surveyed 407 petrochemical employees in Saudi Arabia and uncovered a significant difference between the perceptions of Saudi and non-Saudi employees across Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The study also revealed how these cultural dimensions are associated with the safety behaviour of both the Saudi and non-Saudi sample groups.

Keywords:National culture, petrochemical, safety behaviour, Saudi Arabia.