Risks that are “Worthy” to take: Temporary Workers’ Risk-Benefit Perceptions

Abstract

In order to deepen and broaden understanding on the occupational safety and health disparities between temporary and non-temporary workers, psychological and perceptual gaps between the two groups need to be carefully investigated, particularly in relation to risk taking behaviors. To this end, the present study showed the precarious nature of temporary employment in terms of perceived job security and perceived job control. Although the present study showed that risk perception is not significantly different across the temporary and non-temporary worker groups, temporary workers tended to perceive higher monetary benefits from potentially hazardous working opportunities and reported greater willingness to undertake the working opportunities than non-temporary workers. Temporary workers may be more likely to view the working opportunities in hazardous occupational settings as risks that are worthy to take. These findings need to be incorporated in the safety management of temporary workers to promote self-regulatory engagement in safer and healthier behaviors.