Perceived intensity of extreme events and employees’ safety performance: an affective events perspective

Occupational accidents, injuries, and illnesses remain critical challenges for organizations, particularly in extreme contexts where unusual or atypical events occur. While organizational responses to extreme events have been widely studied, there is less research on how individuals appraise and respond to such events. This leaves us with insufficient evidence on the microfoundations of extreme events, including differences in how individuals perceive the intensity or severity of such events, as well as the implications for safety performance. Drawing on affective events theory, we conducted two quasiexperiments to understand how three distinct levels of exposure to extreme events affect safety performance. In Study 1, data from 292 Iranian male firefighters reveal a significant reduction in safety performance among employees experiencing high, rather than medium and low, exposure to extreme events. This reduction is mediated by heightened negative emotions and lower work engagement. Study 2 replicates these findings with data from 315 Iranian male seafarers and further examines the moderating role of self-emotion appraisal. We find that individuals with strong self-emotion appraisal experience reduced negative emotions confronted with high exposure to extreme events. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.