Psychosocial Safety Climate and Employee Mental Health in Nigerian Financial Technology Firms: Filling a Research Gap

This study empirically examines the relationship between psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and employee mental health outcomes in Nigerian financial technology (fintech) firms, addressing a significant research gap in the occupational health and HR literature for Africa's technology sector. Fintech employees in Nigeria work under intense performance pressure, uncertain funding environments, and always-on digital work cultures that create substantial psychosocial risk. Data were drawn from 240 fintech professionals in Lagos and Abuja through validated instruments including the PSC-12 Scale and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Multiple regression analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals was applied. The Job Demands-Resources Model and Bailey and Dollard's Psychosocial Safety Climate Theory provide the theoretical anchors. Findings confirm that PSC is a significant negative predictor of psychological distress and a positive predictor of psychological functioning among fintech employees, with the management commitment to psychological safety dimension showing the strongest individual effect. The study further reveals that always-on digital communication norms, measured through after-hours message response expectation scores, significantly moderate the PSC-mental health relationship, weakening the protective effect of PSC in high-pressure digital communication environments. This finding is theoretically novel and extends existing PSC research into digital work environments not previously studied. Recommendations include PSC assessments embedded in fintech HR audits, digital disconnection policies enforced by management, and occupational mental health first aid training for team leads. This study makes both theoretical and empirical contributions to African occupational health HR literature. Keywords: psychosocial safety climate, employee mental health, fintech, digital work, Nigeria