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Introduction
Psychological safety has received a noticeable increase in attention from researchers (Baer and Frese, 2003; Edmondson, 2004; Nembhard and Edmondson, 2006; Walumbwa and Schaubroeck, 2009). Psychological safety describes individuals’ perceptions of the consequences of interpersonal risks in their work environment. It consists of taken-for-granted beliefs about how others will respond when one puts oneself on the line, such as by asking a question, seeking feedback, reporting a mistake, or proposing a new idea. In psychologically safe work environments as defined by Edmondson (1996, 1999), employees feel safe to take interpersonal risks; they believe they will not be excessively or unfairly punished for making honest mistakes, asking for help, or seeking additional feedback and information. An action that might be unthinkable in one work-group can be readily taken in another, due to different beliefs about probable interpersonal consequences. Setting in the grounds of social exchange theory, team members share their opinions freely if they anticipate a positive response from team members. The exchange of ideas in a psychologically safe team will take place between members having high learning orientation. Members in the psychologically safe environment do not experience lack of trust regarding the misuse of ideas and opinions by team members (Bradley et al., 2012).
Cauwelier et al. (2016), Edmondson (2004) have studied the relationship between psychological safety and organizational learning. Organizational learning has been considered as an outcome and as a process. Argyris and Schon (1978) defined learning as a process of detecting and correcting the error. The correction of the error is possible when members of the team are open enough regarding drawbacks of the idea (Cauwelier et al., 2016; Dollard and Bakker, 2010). Psychological safety among team members facilitates the process of open discussion and may enhance the learning orientation of team members.
This study examines learning orientation as a mediator in the psychological safety and team performance relationship. High-quality interpersonal relationships in the workplace have been found to play an integral role in psychological safety (Carmeli et al., 2009; Edmondson, 2004). They facilitate what Carmeli (2007) called failure-based learning, where workgroups improve their overall processes and procedures by acknowledging and reflecting on the underlying causes of previous errors. Learning-oriented members of the team are expected to use self-regulation...