Psychological Safety and Meaning in Work as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among Working Adults

Abstract

The present study examined whether psychological safety and meaning in work predict psychological well-being among working adults in India. A sample of 200 working adults was recruited through convenience and snowball sampling across diverse occupational sectors. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index, Edmondson’s (1999) Psychological Safety Scale, and the Work and Meaning Inventory (Steger et al., 2012) were administered. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed a significant model, F(2, 197) = 20.1, p < .001, R2 = .169. Meaning in work emerged as the stronger predictor (B = 0.377, p < .001), while psychological safety also significantly predicted psychological well-being (B = 0.238, p = .030), despite a non-significant bivariate association, suggesting a possible suppression-like effect. The findings suggest that both psychological safety and meaning in work are important workplace factors associated with employee psychological well-being in the Indian context and highlight the value of addressing structural and relational workplace factors to improve psychological health.