Connotation, Characteristics, and Scale Development of High Reliability Teams in China—Sample from the Railway Transportation Industry

Achieving a high level of reliability in an environment full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity is an urgent subject for industries like police, railway, and healthcare. During the period of COVID-19, the “heroic groups” and “the heroes in harm’s way” that emerged in our country have delivered the best answer. They shoulder the mission of the country, society, and people, and commit to translating the “impossible” into “possible” in every emergency time. By reviewing the current literature, related studies are mainly found in foreign, and they called the above-mentioned teams as high-reliability teams (HRTs), which can successfully respond to crises. However, there is lacking of systematic discussion in China. The main purpose of this study is to explore the connotations and characteristics of HRTs in the Chinese context. By combining the qualitative and quantitative methods, we have also developed a scale for further empirical research. The results indicated that there are four unique characteristics of HRTs and the scale has good reliability and discriminant validity. Our findings make a significant contribution to the safety management for high-reliability industries.