Abstract
BackgroundEmpowering leadership practise among leaders in the construction industry contributes to improve occupational safety, by stimulating participative safety behaviour among construction workers. Socialization into working life in the construction industry begins during vocational education and training (VET). It is therefore important to understand how VET influence young people’s expectations on empowering leadership, i.e. their implicit leadership theories (ILT). The aim of the present study was to assess if empowering ILT of students change during VET, and if students’ empowering ILT are influenced by the empowering leadership practice of teachers and workplace supervisors that the students interact with during VET.MethodsQuestionnaire data were gathered from students (n = 1907) at seven construction VET-schools in Sweden and Denmark at two occasions, 1 year apart. Accelerated longitudinal design was employed and data were analysed using mixed method growth curve modelling.ResultsThe empowering ILT of the VET-students was found to increase during VET. The leadership of supervisors’, but not of teachers’, was found to be positively related to the empowering ILT of the VET-students.ConclusionsVET-students, in the beginning of their professional life, appear to alter their beliefs and assumptions about the characteristics of effective leaders. The ILT of VET-students may thus be regarded as dynamic and responsive, inclined to change as the students socialize into working life.
Highlights
Empowering leadership practise among leaders in the construction industry contributes to improve occupational safety, by stimulating participative safety behaviour among construction workers
During construction vocational education and training (VET), the future construction managers and workers socialize into the leadership practices of the construction industry, and as they become working members of the industry they may well participate themselves in the reproduction of empowering leadership practice, by conveying their empowering implicit leadership theories (ILT) in manifest behaviours
The results indicated that the leadership of supervisors, but not of teachers’, is positively related to the empowering ILT of the VET-students
Summary
Empowering leadership practise among leaders in the construction industry contributes to improve occupational safety, by stimulating participative safety behaviour among construction workers. Empowering leadership is a type of leadership practice that has been found to develop participative safety behaviours among employees (Grill et al 2015; Shannon et al 1997; Törner and Pousette 2009). Extensive research on empowering leadership describe how such leadership can increase employees’ commitment (Hassan et al 2013), motivation and innovation (Spreitzer 1995; Zhang and Bartol 2010), organizational loyalty (Keller and Dansereaul 1995), team learning (Burke et al 2006), team performance (Seibert et al 2011; Srivastava et al 2006), as well as occupational safety (Grill et al 2015; Shannon et al 1997; Törner and Pousette 2009)
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