Safety Leadership Behaviors Research Articles

The Influence of Safety Leadership and Working Condition on Safety Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

This systematic literature review aims to evaluate the influence of safety leadership dan working condition on safety behavior. The methodology involved a comprehensive search and selection of peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2023. This research succeeded in reviewing 14 studies originating from 10 different countries and having topics related to safety leadership, working conditions and safety behavior. The results also indicate that safety leadership and working condition have a significant influence on safety behavior, both directly and indirectly. The review also highlights the critical role of organizational support in mitigating work accident rate. The study concludes that addressing safety behavior through strategic interventions and leadership development to enhance safety leadership and working condition related program can prevent work accident. By recognizing and addressing these issues, it is hoped that management will gain a better and more comprehensive understanding of issues related to safety behavior to give organizational support in order to correctly determine safety programs.

Research on the configuration of factors influencing safety citizenship behavior of construction workers based on fsQCA

ABSTRACT Objectives. How to promote the safety citizenship behavior (SCB) of construction workers has been studied in academic circles. However, most current research methods focus on the ‘net effect' between the independent variable and SCB. Methods and Results. Based on the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method and from the perspective of ‘configuration’, this article proposes that the emergence of SCB not only depends on a single condition, but also depends on the interaction of safety leadership behavior (SLB), organizational safety climate (OSC), organizational safety support (OSS), safety attitude (SA), safety motivation (SM), safety risk perception (SRP) and psychological belonging (PB). Conclusion. The research shows that the emergence of construction workers’ SCB can be realized through different combinations of variables, and both ‘external environment-driven' and ‘interpersonal relationship-driven' paths can promote the generation of SCB. This research provides a more systematic and practical explanation for how to promote the generation of SCB of construction workers, expand the research scope of safety management and play a positive role in reducing the incidence of safety accidents in the construction industry.

Safety Leadership: A Catalyst for Positive Safety Climate on Construction Sites

Limited research exists on safety leadership and safety climate in developing countries, despite their established importance in the construction industry. This study addresses this gap by investigating how immediate superiors’ safety leadership behaviours influence safety climate perceptions among construction professionals in southern India. Using a quantitative approach, the study collected valid questionnaire surveys among 279 construction professionals by convenience sampling across various construction sites. The survey revealed that safety leadership significantly and positively predicts five key safety climate factors: management’s commitment to safety, safety equipment and procedures, safety training, communication and openness, and group dynamics and safety culture. These findings highlight the critical role immediate superiors play in shaping safety climate perceptions through their commitment, communication, and employee involvement. This research underscores the importance of investing in safety leadership development to improve safety outcomes, reduce accidents and injuries, and enhance regulatory compliance within the Indian construction industry.

Safety leadership and safety citizenship behavior: the mediating roles of safety knowledge, safety motivation, and psychological contract of safety

The relationship between safety leadership and safety citizenship behavior (SCB) is well established in prior research; however, the effects of safety knowledge, safety motivation, and psychological contract of safety (PCS) on this relationship still need to be examined. This study investigated the mediating roles of safety knowledge, safety motivation, and psychological contract of safety in the relationship between safety leadership and SCB. Cross-sectional survey data were gathered from 205 employees in a high-risk industry in Iran. Path analysis showed that safety knowledge, safety motivation, and PCS played mediating roles between safety leadership and SCB. Improving the safety of employees and enhancing safety in organizations can be achieved by considering the significance of safety leadership and enhancing SCB among employees. Creating environments with higher levels of fulfillment of safety obligations between leaders and employees is important in achieving safety goals.

연구실 안전 분위기 측정도구 개발 및 타당화

Recently, accidents have been occurring continuously in domestic research labs, and in order to prevent them, the safety field is emphasizing the creation of a safe climate. Therefore, in this study, before confirming the role and performance of safety climate, we establish the definition and sub-factor of the concept of safety climate and develop a tool to measure it. Through this, we hope to contribute to revitalizing research on lab safety climate and related variables. Through previous research, a draft of the sub-factors and questions of the measurement tool was developed, and the measurement tool was validated through an expert content validity survey, preliminary survey, and main survey. The survey was conducted targeting people engaged in research activities, the measurement tool was validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and the reliability of the measurement tool was secured through reliability analysis. In addition, correlation analysis with safety-related variables was conducted. The safety climate measurement tool was drafted with a total of 4 areas and 19 questions, and a total of 16 questions were selected as preliminary questions through verification of content validity. As a result of conducting a preliminary survey and conducting exploratory factor analysis, a total of 4 sub factor and 12 questions were converged. Afterwards, as a result of confirmatory factor analysis through this survey, the measurement tool was found to be valid, and there was a correlation with various safety related variables. The lab safety climate measurement tool consists of four sub-factor : lab operation policy, lab safety regulations, lab safety education, and communication between members, and was developed with a total of 12 questions. The correlation between safety related variables such as safety leadership, safety knowledge, safety attitude, and safety behavior was found to be significant, so it can be used in future lab safety related research and is expected to revitalize research.

안전보건관리담당자의 안전리더십이 근로자의 안전의식과 안전행동에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is to activate the “Safety & Health Manager Assignment System”―a system that small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in manufacturing industry with 20-49 employees is required to have safety and health manager for workers’ safety and health―through a research on whether a medium is provided between safety consciousness and safety behavior.
 The research was conducted to have suggestions for improving safety consciousness and safety behavior of workers in SMEs by promoting awareness and acknowledging importance on the safety leadership, safety consciousness and safety behavior. In line with that, actual proof analysis was conducted about this.
 A research model and hypothesis were proposed and verification was carried out to achieve the purpose of the study. Looking at the proposed research model, safety leadership of the safety and health manager directly affects the safety consciousness and safety behavior of workers. Safety consciousness is used as a parameter in this process.
 In August 2021, a survey was conducted targeting 350 safety and health managers and workers in the manufacturing industry in Busan and Gyeongnam. Among them, 334 questionnaires excluding insincere responses were empirically verified. Using SPSS 24.0, basic statistical analysis, validity and reliability verification, and correlation were conducted. The analysis results are as follows: First, the safety leadership of the safety and health manager had a positive (+) impact on the safety consciousness of workers. Second, the safety leadership of the safety and health manager had a positive (+) impact on the safety behavior of workers. Third, it was confirmed that the safety consciousness of small and medium-sized workplace workers had a positive (+) impact on safety behavior. Fourth, the safety leadership of the safety and health manager directly affects the safety behavior and consciousness of workers, at the same time, the safety consciousness of workers indirectly affects the safety behavior of workers in return.
 In conclusion, the findings could confirm that safety leadership of safety and health manager is important in influencing workers' safety consciousness and safety behavior. The safety Leadership of safety and health manager directly affects the safety behavior and consciousness of workers, and the safety consciousness of workers indirectly affects the safety behavior.

Individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Construction site managers play a critical role in occupational safety in the construction industry. This study aimed to develop and test a method for training construction site managers in positive feedback and active listening by incorporating the behavioral training components of behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning into individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training (IBST), and to assess the effect of IBST on construction site managers’ safety-leadership behaviors and performance. Method: In a naturalistic randomized controlled trial, construction site managers were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 16) or a control group (n = 19). The experimental-group managers received IBST, while the control-group managers received no training. Paired sample t-tests on pre- to post-training (i.e., six weeks after the final training session) were performed separately for the experimental- and control-group managers. Results: The safety-leadership behaviors of the experimental-group managers improved in terms of favorable feedback (d = 0.99, p <.01), safety-specific feedback (d = 0.89, p =.02), behavior-specific feedback (d = 0.66, p =.02), antecedent listening (d = 0.68, p =.02), and consequential listening (d = 0.78, p =.01). In addition, safety-leadership performance improved in terms of transformational leadership (d = 0.78, p =.01) and contingent-reward leadership (d = 0.64, p =.02). No significant change was found for the control-group managers. Conclusions: The results indicate that behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning are effective behavioral training components of safety-leadership training. Positive feedback and active listening were also found to be important behavioral requisites for transformational and contingent-reward leadership. Practical applications: IBST can be used to develop occupational safety in the construction industry by improving construction site managers’ safety-leadership behaviors and performance.

COVID-19 and Food Delivery Employees’ Workplace Safety

With the global pandemic of COVID-19 in recent years, food delivery employees’ workplace safety has been severely threatened and challenged. Thus, this study hopes to understand their real work safety and its impact. Based on the perspective of human resource development, broaden-and-build theory, and internal and external marketing activities, the study examines the relationships between safety leadership, safety training, employee well-being, service quality, and customer citizenship behavior. The results using three-wave and 498 valid employee-customer pairs (498 food delivery employees and 600 customers) from 2 food delivery companies in Taiwan showed that: (1) Safety leadership positively affects employee well-being; (2) Safety training positively affects employee well-being; (3) Employee well-being positively affects service quality; (4) Employee well-being positively affects customer citizenship behavior; (5) Employee well-being mediates the relationship between safety leadership and customer citizenship behavior, and (6) Safety training moderates the relationship between safety leadership and employee wellbeing. Research and managerial implications are discussed.

Construction of a Bayesian Network Based on Leadership-Culture-Behavior Model to Improve Owner Safety Management Behavior

The positive influence of owners’ safety management on the safety performance of construction projects has gained significant attention. Considerable research has been performed to examine the relationship of owners’ safety leadership (SL), safety culture (SC), and safety management behavior (SMB). However, there is a lack of understanding of the mechanisms of influence of owners’ leadership–culture behavior (LCB) and recommendations to improve owners’ safety management behavior. This study developed the influence mechanism of owner LCB and explored the optimal intervention plan to improve owners’ SMB. First, a longitudinal survey was undertaken, which included more than 2,000 construction projects across China, to collect data. Subsequently, a Bayesian network (BN) was constructed to characterize the influence mechanism of owner LCB. Finally, the effects of different intervention plans on SMB were compared. The results proved that the owners’ SL had considerable effects on behavioral improvement when SL and SC were at low levels, whereas SC became prominent when SL and SC were at medium or high levels. This shows that safety leadership and safety culture successively play a role in behavior improvement. Additionally, the combined improvement of role modeling and safety training achieved the best improvement effect on SMB in case projects, which reveals that a combination of safety leadership and safety culture plays a greater role in behavior improvement. This study contributes to the LCB approach and proposes a selection scheme for intervention measures to improve owners’ safety management behavior.

The effect of safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior on safety performance after a company merger: a case study

After the merger of PT Pelindo, PT Pelindo Terminal Petikemas became one of the sub-holding companies in containers. In maintaining consistency with the implementation of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) after the merger, PT Pelindo Terminal Petikemas needs to understand the importance of safety leadership, safety culture, safety behavior, and safety perfor­mance in the OHS program's success. The study aimed to determine the effect of safety leadership on safety culture and safety performance, the effect of safety culture and safety behavior on safety performance, and safety behavior to act as a mediation between safety leadership and safety performance, and safety culture on safety performance at PT Pelindo Terminal Petikemas. The samples of 130 employees are then analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS software. The results showed that safety leadership has a significant effect on safety culture and safety performance. Safety culture and safety behavior have a significant effect on safety performance. Safety behavior can mediate between safety culture and performance, while safety behavior cannot act as a mediation between safety leadership and performance. This research implies that PT Pelindo Terminal Petikemas's management can select several strong and trustworthy employees from each terminal who merge to lead initiatives regarding company safety and communicate with the central command.

호텔에서의 안전리더십과 직원의 안전행동

Safety behavior is highly likely to be influenced by not only individual level factors, but also organizational or group level factors. However, in Korea, few studies have been conducted to classify each of factors on safety behavior. This study examines the effect of team leader’s safety leadership as a group level factor on safety behavior mediated through safety motivation and team member’s safety attitude as an individual level factor. This study was conducted in China from January to June 2022 with 512 subjects from 95 teams of 5-star hotels. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) for multi-level analysis is used to analyze the mechanisms by which safety leadership and safety attitudes influence safety behavior through safety motivation. The research results indicate that safety leadership and safety attitude can predict safety behavior. Safety motivation also played a mediating role in the relationship between safety leadership and safety behavior. This study, which conducted the time-lagged study, suggests that management should build appropriate safety leadership, continuously check the effectiveness of leadership through regular monitoring, and improve safety-related performance through encouraging safety attitudes and motivation.

The influence of safety leadership on nurses’ safety behavior: The mediating role of safety knowledge and motivation

Introduction: This paper investigates the relationships among safety leadership, safety motivation, safety knowledge, and safety behavior in the setting of a tertiary hospital in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Method: Underpinned by the self-efficacy theory, we argue that high-quality safety leadership enhances nurses’ safety knowledge and motivation and subsequently, improves their safety behavior (safety compliance and safety participation). A total of 332 questionnaire responses were gathered and analyzed using SmartPLS Version 3.2.9, revealing the direct effect of safety leadership on both safety knowledge and safety motivation. Results: Safety knowledge and safety motivation were found to directly and significantly predict nurses’ safety behavior. Notably, safety knowledge and safety motivation were established as important mediators in the relationship between safety leadership and nurses’ safety compliance and participation. Practical Applications: The findings of this study offer key guidance for safety researchers and hospital practitioners in identifying mechanisms to enhance safety behavior among nurses.

The Mediating Role of Safety Climate in the Relationship between Transformational Safety Leadership and Safe Behavior—The Case of Two Companies in Turkey and Romania

Safety leadership, safe behavior, and safety climate, which are important parts of occupational safety culture, are important in terms of preventing occupational accidents and making the working environment ergonomic. In this context, this study aims to examine the mediating effect of the safety climate on the relationship between transformational leadership and safe behavior. Research was carried out with 287 participants working in two manufacturing plants, one from Turkey and one from Romania. The two data sets were consolidated into a single database (both companies being providers of manufacturing products for the same client in the automotive industry) and were analyzed using the Preacher and Hayes plugin in the SPSS 21 package program because of the research interest in investigating safety behavior in the manufacturing field. The results of the analysis showed that the safety climate had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and safe behavior. In addition, the study results demonstrated that transformational safety leadership has a significant influence on employees’ perceptions of safety climate and plays an important role in occupational safety-related behaviors. Research results were helpful for practitioners (managers in both companies) and researchers in understanding the importance of safety-climate and transformational safety leadership practices in increasing occupational safety-related behaviors.

Analysis of the Relationship between Safety Leadership and Safety Behavior in the University Laboratory - Focusing on the Mediating effect of the Safety Climate -

대학 연구실 사고의 주요원인은 연구활동종사자의 불안전행동으로 안전행동의 강화가 필요한 시점이다. 따라서 본 연구의 목적은 대학교 연구실에서 가장 큰 권한을 가지고 있는 지도교수의 안전리더십이 연구실 종사자의 안전행동과 연구실 안전 풍토에 미치는 영향을 확인하고 연구실 안전풍토의 매개역할을 확인하는 것이다. 이를 위하여 선행연구 고찰 결과를 토대로 가설을 설정하였으며 대학교 연구실 종사자를 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였다. 총 321부를 분석에 활용하였으며, 설문조사 도구는 선행연구에서 개발된 도구를 대학교 연구실 상황에 맞게 수정하여 사용하였다. 도구에 대한 신뢰도 분석을 실시하였으며, 타당도 분석을 위하여 탐색적 요인분석을 수행하였다. 그 결과 도구의 신뢰도는 .90이상으로 높게 나타났으며 타당성 또한 입증되었다. 매개효과 분석을 위하여 SPSS PROCESS MACRO 4를 활용하였으며, 주요결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 변혁적 안전리더십과 거래적 안전리더십은 안전순응행동과 안전참여행동에 정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통하여 대학교 연구실 책임자인 지도교수는 변혁적, 거래적 안전리더십으로 소속 연구실 종사자를 이끌 필요가 있다. 둘째, 변혁적 안전리더십과 거래적 안전리더십은 연구실 안전풍토에 정적영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 연구실 안전풍토는 안전순응행동, 안전참여행동에 정적영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이를 통하여 향후 대학 연구실 종사자의 안전행동 강화를 위해서는 안전풍토가 중요한 역할을 수행하므로, 대학교에서는 연구실 안전풍토 조성을 위한 다양한 프로그램을 운영할 필요가 있다. 셋째, 안전풍토는 변혁적 안전리더십과 안전순응행동, 안전참여 행동의 관계, 거래적 안전리더십과 안전순응행동, 안전참여 행동의 관계에서 매개역할을 하는 것으로 나타났다. 대학교 연구실 종사자의 안전행동은 지도교수의 안전리더십에 영향을 직접 받기도 하지만, 연구실 안전풍토를 통해서도 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 향후 연구에 대한 제언을 하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 대학 연구실 연구분야를 고려하여 세부적으로 분석할 필요가 있다. 둘째, 연구실 안전풍토 조성에 영향을 주는 추가적인 변인을 확인할 필요가 있다. 이를 통하여 연구실 안전풍토 향상 방안을 마련할 필요가 있다.

How transactional and transformational safety leadership behaviours are demonstrated within the construction industry

Transactional and transformational safety leadership have been repeatedly found to be important for safety. Yet how transactional and transformational leadership behaviours are most effectively demonstrated can be dependent on the context and industry. Using an ethnographic approach, supervisor safety leadership was explored across eleven construction sites in Australia. The findings revealed that, within the construction site context, contingent reward, idealised influence, and management-by-exception behaviours demonstrated by supervisors closely aligned with their definitions in Full-Range Leadership Theory (FRLT). These three types of leadership behaviour reflect observation of supervisors’ positive actions, which included: praising workers for good safety performance; proactively anticipating and attending to safety issues; and consistently leading-by-example with safety, even at times of significant production pressure. Other theoretically described dimensions of leadership behaviour, i.e. individual consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation, were not directly reflected in observed supervisors’ behaviour in the way they are conceptualised in FRLT. The existence of a good supervisor-worker relationship enabled workers to comfortably raise safety issues, think creatively about how to undertake work safely, and talk to their supervisor if they were experiencing personal problems. These are motivational, intellectual, and empathetic elements of leadership, which do not directly align with the way leadership behaviours are conceptualised in mainstream FRLT. The study suggests that, in the construction worksite context, leadership behaviours may take a form that differs from theoretical ideal types and that ethnographically attained insights into supervisors’ interactions with workers can contribute to understanding transformational and transactional leadership in practical terms.

스타트업 항공사 객실승무원 조직의 안전리더십 구성요인에 관한 실증연구

A startup airline is motivating its flight attendants to do voluntary and effective safety behavior as well as setting up safety culture in its organization at the same time in the early stage of revenue-flight service due to the lack of flight operation experience compared to competing airlines. Based on the sample of flight attendants from a startup airline, this paper tried to perform empirical analysis which focused on relationship among safety leadership, safety motivation and safety behavior. According to empirical analysis, it was proven psychological resources had a significantly positive effect on work engagement. Work engagement is proven to have a significantly positive effect on both flight attendants’ safety motivation and their safety work. It was also implied that flight attendants couldn’t understand a contradictory attitude of their leaders because leaders had them focus on safety work engagement while not providing enough human resource and capital. In addition, it was found leader’s excessive emphasizing safety policy might not result in flight attendants’ safety behavior.

Safety Leadership and Safety Behavior in MRO Business: Moderating Role of Safety Climate in Garuda Maintenance Facility Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of Safety Leadership and Safety Communication on Safety Climate and Safety Behavior at work from employees’ point of view. This research was conducted at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Indonesia and businesses associated with Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) owned by PT. Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia Tbk. (GMF), which operates locally and internationally. It was conducted through questionnaires and aimed to reflect the organization's safety. The survey was conducted among 342 staffs of several departments in GMF. The result of this study is a positive correlation between the research questions and hypotheses in which safety leadership has a positive effect on safety climate standard with a coefficient of 0.204. That is to say, the higher the level of safety leadership, the higher the level of safety climate. Safety climate has significant effect on safety behavior, and safety communication has positive effect on safety climate. Furthermore, safety leadership has no significant effect on safety behavior. Safety leadership has significant effect on safety behavior through safety climate or partially mediates. This research is expected to contribute on safety behavior in an organization, which means reducing chance of work accidents and promoting the wellness of both employees and employers.

LCB approach for construction safety

The unsafe behavior that is seen everywhere on construction sites is the biggest challenge for further improvement of construction safety performance. Focusing on the “human” related issues in construction safety, this paper reviews the research and practices of safety management and comes up with three key elements to look at, namely safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior. Through systematic exploration on the connotation of and interaction between safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior, a Leadership-Culture-Behavior (LCB) approach for construction safety is proposed with the kernel - leadership driven culture development and behavior control. The LCB approach emphasizes the role of safety leadership to not only directly reduce unsafe behavior but also to fundamentally change the causes of unsafe behavior through safety culture development, ultimately achieving the goal of reducing unsafe behaviors sustainably and preventing accidents. The LCB approach has been implemented in a number of railway and building projects in mainland and Hong Kong SAR, China, and Singapore. Significant improvement of L/C/B has been observed. Taking a high-speed railway project in China as an example, safety leadership, safety culture, and safety behavior of the project stakeholders at all levels were significantly improved. In the end, based on LCB, new directions and potential areas for future research of construction safety are discussed.

Relation between senior managers’ safety leadership and safety behavior in the Chinese petrochemical industry

Senior managers in organizations are authorized and obliged to maintain organizational safety. However, to date, little research has considered the relation of senior managers' safety leadership to safety behavior. This study addresses this gap by using path analysis to confirm the validity of a hypothetical model that relates six dimensions of senior managers' safety leadership to two safety behaviors through the safety climate in the petrochemical industry. A questionnaire survey was sent randomly to workers (other than senior managers) in two petrochemical companies in China, and data from 155 usable responses were compiled for the path analysis. Results indicate that in the petrochemical industry, senior managers' safety leadership has a positive impact on safety behavior, and the safety climate plays an intermediary role between them. From the perspective of the dimensions of senior managers' safety leadership and safety behavior, safety concern has the greatest positive effect on safety compliance. Moreover, safety vision has the greatest positive impact on safety participation, whereas safety inspiration and safety awards and punishment have negative effects on safety compliance. Personal character does not directly influence any dimension of safety behavior but indirectly does so by influencing the safety climate. On the basis of these results, measures of improving senior managers' safety leadership in the petrochemical industry are presented to help improve the overall safety performance of the industry. A new view is provided for the petrochemical industry in China to suggest that senior managers’ safety leadership can be treated earnestly.

Research on the Relationship Between Safety Leadership, Safety Attitude and Safety Citizenship Behavior of Railway Employees.

The daily operation and maintenance work of railways are very dangerous. Railway employees often have safety accidents while working, and the safety citizenship behavior (SCB) of railway employees can effectively reduce the accident rate. Therefore, it is of great significance to identify the main safety constructs affecting the SCB of railway employees to minimize accidents. This paper puts forward a supposed model of the influence mechanism of safety leadership (SL) on employee SCB through the mediation of safety attitude (SA). A questionnaire was used with railway employees, and 238 valid responses were finally collected. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to explore the relationship between SL, SA and SCB. The results showed the SL is positively related to the SA, and it can further promote the SCB of railway employees. In addition, SA has a positive impact on employee SCB.