Our objectives

Under the "cultures of trust" research theme, we examine how Indigenous employees experience trust and psychological safety at work.

We aim to understand, measure, and adopt organizational climates of Indigenous cultural safety (CICS) that will have a positive impact on Indigenous youth employment rates through increased psychological safety and cultures of trust.

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Why study cultures of trust?

 

Employees understand the culture and climate of an organization by making sense of its policies, procedures, and behavioural norms. Cultures of trust reflect organizational cultures that are defined by a shared understanding that policies are fair and enacted justly, and that organizational members are trustworthy. Cultures of trust reduce uncertainty and risk, promoting psychological safety and well-being, which in turn predict job performance.

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Although culture is known to affect employee expectations and perceptions, researchers have yet to examine what psychological safety means for Indigenous employees in Canada. Psychological safety is important to minority group employees in diverse workforces as they tend to have significant trepidation expressing their true selves and face a greater risk of negative consequences for doing so than non-minority employees. For Indigenous peoples, trust and psychological safety in the work place do not exist without understanding and supporting Indigenous culture and workways -- in other words, cultural safety. For cultural safety to occur, organizations must be aware of biases that impact the employment experiences and outcomes of Indigenous employees, as well as explicitly recognize their cultural identity and the historical legacy of power relations.

Psychological safety and trust may result in lower employee turnover and increased organizational commitment, especially for minority employees. Therefore, we hope that creating an organizational climate of Indigenous cultural safety will have a positive impact on Indigenous youth employment rates through increased psychological safety and cultures of trust.

Outcomes

• a novel measure of cultural safety

• a critical incident video library