Do leadership behaviours, work environments and the health of managers in Sweden and outside Sweden differ?—a study of a large international mining company

Abstract

The mining industry faces specific challenges related to the working conditions and safety of employees. Studies indicate that the leadership behaviours, working conditions and health of managers are of importance for the working conditions and health of subordinates. Therefore, the aim here is to study these factors in a large international mining company with its head office in Sweden. The specific focus is on identifying similarities and differences that may exist between managers in Sweden and managers outside Sweden. An online survey with validated questions has been distributed to all managers in the company. The main findings are that both managers in and outside of Sweden report relatively high values regarding relation-, structure- and change-oriented leadership behaviours. In addition, managers also rated HEL (healthy and effective leadership) behaviours with relatively high values. The managers in Sweden rate relation orientation with the highest value and the managers outside Sweden rate structure orientation with the highest value. These differences have been confirmed by a regression analysis that identified significant associations between the group of managers based outside Sweden and higher structure orientated leadership behaviours. Both manager groups rate relatively high values regarding job satisfaction and self-rated health. However, they rate relatively high work demand values. The main conclusions are that there are different patterns in leadership behaviours between these two manager groups that can be related to cross-culture factors. Further investigation of the reasons for these differences is important in this industrial sector.