Psychological Safety and Human Capital Management in Higher Education: The Mediating Influence of Employee Engagement.

Abstract

The study aims to examine the impact of psychological safety and human capital management (HCM) practices on employee engagement in higher education, with a focus on the mediating role of employee engagement. Adopting both social and organizational perspectives in exploring the effect of having a supportive work environment on staff engagement. The study used quantitative research methods to gather information from 396 faculty members. The data was subsequently analyzed through SEM. The results reveal that psychological safety fosters significantly more engagement among employees. Leadership techniques, workforce optimization, knowledge accessibility, and learning capacity have been found to assist employee engagement. Additionally, employee engagement serves as a significant mediator between psychological safety and key components of HCM, supporting the position that employee engagement is critical in mediating organizational assets into employee commitment and involvement. The results led to a realization of the strategic priority for developing psychologically safe and resource-rich workplaces to promote sustainable employee engagement. This study makes original contributions by integrating the SET and RBV frameworks in a higher education context, which is essential for enhancing theoretical explanations and practical applications, thereby enabling academic leadership to improve workforce resilience and advance institutional outcomes.