Better Safe Than Sorry. A quantitative study on Psychological Safety, Media Richness, and Trust in Workgroups

Abstract: In the contemporary landscape, virtual work has become an increasingly prevalent phenomenon, persisting even in the post-pandemic era. By virtue of its implications on team performance, psychological safety has become one of the most important concepts in the managerial biosphere; a concept which has further been closely linked to trust. As such, understanding the implications of virtual work on psychological safety along with trust is critical. This thesis integrates existing theories and prior research on psychological safety, media richness, and trust in work teams to explore the research questions: "How does the perceived level of psychological safety relate to the different levels of media richness in the workgroup?", as well as the pertinent sub-question "How does the degree of perceived team trust affect this relationship?". A quantitative study, analyzed through OLS-regressions along with Baron & Kenny's mediation analysis, involving 288 self- surveyed office workers across five Sweden-based firms pursuing consulting- or managerial practices serves as a basis to answer the research questions. The thesis concludes an intricate inverse U-shaped relationship between media richness and perceived psychological safety. These nuanced findings, along with complementary analysis, suggest that the highest levels of perceived psychological safety are achieved when there is a balanced combination of both rich and lean media. In terms of the mediation analysis, complete mediation of team trust is observed for two of the four media richness variables (face-to-face and video conferencing). However, concerns arise regarding the high correlations between team trust and psychological safety; ergo necessitating further studies. These findings hold significance for both researchers and management practitioners, providing valuable and new insights into the intricate dynamics of virtual work, psychological safety, and trust within workgroups.