Safety-specific Transformational Leadership Research Articles

Exploring positive psychological factor on safety behavior of Chinese aircraft maintenance technicians: The interplay of workplace well-being, work engagement, and leadership

The safety behaviors of aircraft maintenance technicians (AMTs) are crucial in ensuring aviation safety. It is, therefore, vital to explore the factors associated with AMT safety behaviors and the underlying mechanisms. This study, drawing on self-determination theory and the broaden-and-build theory, explores the relationship between workplace well-being (WWB) and AMT safety behaviors within the framework of positive psychology. A sample of 593 Chinese AMTs (561 males and 32 females; average age = 27.28, SD = 3.73) anonymously completed questionnaires on demographic variables, WWB, work engagement, safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL), and safety behavior. We utilized SPSS 26.0 and the PROCESS macro (models 4 and 7), along with Amos 24.0, to conduct an empirical test of a moderated mediation model elucidating the relationship between WWB and safety behavior. The findings reveal a positive association between WWB and AMT safety behaviors, with work engagement acting as a partial mediator. Furthermore, SSTL was found to negatively moderate the positive association between WWB and work engagement, as well as the association between WWB and safety behavior through work engagement. Notably, the positive association between WWB and work engagement, and thus safety behavior, becomes more pronounced under lower SSTL conditions. In conclusion, this study makes theoretical contributions and offers practical insights for improving aircraft maintenance safety management practices.

Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership: Behavioral Characteristics and Measurement.

Safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTFL) has been examined in high-risk industries for decades with solid evidence for its effectiveness and influence on safety climates and safety outcomes. The concept has recently been introduced to healthcare, with an operational definition developed through a concept derivation process and the development of a typology of factors that influence the relationship between leadership and safety climate. This article describes the evidence-based behavioral characteristics of leaders practicing SSTFL, which serve as a basis for the development and testing of an instrument to measure the latent variable of SSTFL in interprofessional healthcare leaders.

Role of safety-specific transformational leadership in fostering extra-role behaviors through psychological contract fulfillment among frontline workers during COVID-19

Objectives. The emergence of COVID-19 has drastically changed the safety outlook of how the work world is viewed by leaders and followers. In this backdrop, the current study aimed at extending the safety leadership literature in the context of organizations operating in crisis situations by investigating the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership on the followers’ extra-role behaviors through the mediation of psychological contract fulfillment. Methods. Using a time-lagged and multisource design, data were collected from 384 frontline rescue and healthcare workers dealing with COVID-19-related situations. Results. Results revealed that safety-specific transformational leadership behavior positively affects extra-role behaviors of frontline employees by enhancing their innovative work behavior, knowledge sharing behavior and organizational citizenship behavior. Also, psychological contract fulfillment plays a bridging role in translating the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership behavior on extra-role behaviors. Conclusion . The followers working in an unsafe context view the safety concern of their leader as a fulfillment of their unwritten expectations from their employers. Implications of these findings along with limitations and future research directions are also delineated.

The influence of safety-specific transformational leadership on safety behavior among Chinese airline pilots: The role of harmonious safety passion and organizational identification

Safety is a key consideration in the worldwide civil aviation industry, in which an increasing number of aviation accidents are related to flight crew performance. Based on social exchange theory and social identity theory, the primary objective of this study is to examine the relationships among safety-specific transformational leadership, harmonious safety passion, organizational identification, and safety behavior among Chinese airline pilots. Data was collected from 332 commercial airline pilots from China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. using self-report questionnaires. Correlation analysis, mediation analysis and moderated analysis were conducted. The results show that safety-specific transformational leadership has a positive effect on safety behavior and an indirect effect on safety behavior through the influence of harmonious safety passion. Harmonious safety passion acts as a mediating role, whereas organizational identification acts as a moderating role in the relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and safety behavior. The managerial implications stemming from the findings of this study may promote pilots’ safety behavior, improve airline management and maintain safety of flight operation.

The cross-level effect of team safety-specific transformational leadership on workplace safety behavior: The serial mediating role of team safety climate and team safety motivation

Introduction: Workplace safety not only impairs individual health but also affects economic and social development. Method: Based on social learning theory, collective social learning theory, and expectancy-valence theory, using cluster random sampling method, 630 employees from 66 different work teams out of around 800 employees in a domestic petroleum enterprise were selected to participate in the research. The safety-specific transformational leadership, safety climate, safety motivation and workplace safety behavior scales were used. Data were collected in two stages. SPSS22.0 and Mplus7.0 were used to analyze the data to explore the relationship between team safety-specific transformational leadership and workplace safety behavior, as well as the serial mediating effect of team safety climate and team safety motivation. Results: The results showed that: (a) team safety-specific transformational leadership can positively influence safety compliance and safety participation; (b) team safety climate mediates the relationship between team safety-specific transformational leadership and safety compliance and safety participation; (c) team safety motivation mediates the relationship between team safety-specific transformational leadership and safety compliance and safety participation; and (d) team safety climate and team safety motivation play a serial mediating role between team safety-specific transformational leadership and safety compliance and safety participation. Practical Applications: This research has both theoretical and practical significance.

Proactive Personality and Construction Worker Safety Behavior: Safety Self-Efficacy and Team Member Exchange as Mediators and Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership as Moderators.

Research on the correlation between personality traits and safety behaviors has been thoroughly explored in previous literature. However, most of these studies are based on explaining the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and safety behavior, with few explaining the relationship between proactive personality and safety behavior. This study relies on trait activation theory, social cognitive theory, and social exchange theory to understand the relationship between proactive personality and safety behavior (safety participation and safety compliance) by using safety self-efficacy and team member exchange as mediating variables and safety-specific transformational leadership as moderating variables. Method: Considering the issue of common method bias, a multi-source and multi-stage data collection research design was used to collect 287 valid questionnaires from construction workers in 10 construction projects and apply regression analysis for hypothesis testing. Conclusions: Research results indicated that proactive personality positively and significantly influenced construction workers' safety behaviors, while safety self-efficacy and team member exchange partially mediated the relationship between proactive personality and safety behaviors. In addition, safety-specific transformational leadership enhanced the positive relationship between proactive personality and safety behavior. These findings enrich the research on the correlation between personality traits and safety behaviors of construction workers in a safety context.

Making the Case

High-risk industries such as transportation, aviation, manufacturing, and nuclear power have much better safety track records than that of the health care industry. It is logical to look to these industries for effective safety practices that may translate to health care. One concept embraced by other industries that demonstrates significant potential for safety improvement in health care is Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership. This article introduces the concept and makes the case for embracing Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership in health care by proposing an operational definition and samples of behavioral assessment items for instrument development.

Reconciling general transformational leadership and safety-specific transformational leadership: A paradox perspective

Introduction: Research exploring the relationship between transformational leadership and safety has used transformational leadership in context-free (e.g., “general transformational leadership,” or GTL) and context-specific forms (e.g., “safety-specific transformational leadership,” or SSTL), assuming these constructs are theoretically and empirically equivalent. In this paper, a paradox theory is drawn on (Schad, Lewis, Raisch, & Smith, 2016; Smith & Lewis, 2011) to reconcile the relationship between these two forms of transformational leadership and safety. Method: This is done by: (a) investigating whether GTL and SSTL are empirically distinguishable; (b) testing the relative importance of GTL and SSTL in explaining variance in context-free work outcomes (i.e., in-role performance, organizational citizenship behaviors) and context-specific (i.e., safety compliance, safety participation); and (c) examining the extent to which perceived safety concern in the work environment renders GTL and SSTL distinguishable. Results: Two studies (one cross-sectional, one short-term longitudinal) show that GTL and SSTL are psychometrically distinct albeit highly correlated. Furthermore, SSTL explained statistically more variance than GTL in both safety participation and organizational citizenship behaviors, whereas GTL explained more variance in in-role performance than did SSTL. However, GTL and SSTL were only distinguishable in low-concern contexts but not high-concern contexts. Conclusions and Practical Applications: These findings challenge the “either-or” (vs “both-and”) approach to considering safety and performance, cautioning researchers to consider nuanced differences in context-free and context-specific forms of leadership and to avoid further proliferation of often redundant context-specific operationalizations of leadership.

Impact of Safety Climate on Safety Behaviour in Construction Projects: Mediating Mechanism and Interacting Effect

This study aimed to investigate the impact of safety climate on safety behaviour with the mediating role of safety attitude and mediating role of safety-specific transformational leadership. Data were collected from 294 respondents from different construction projects in Pakistan. The study employed an analytical descriptive approach as its research methodology. The results revealed that safety climate exhibits a significant positive correlation with safety behaviour in projects, as well as with safety attitude. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that safety attitude and safety-specific transformational leadership do not mediate the relationship between safety climate and safety behaviour in projects. In this study, the implications for the project managers and employees as well as future research directions are discussed.

The Combined Effect of Safety Specific Transformational Leadership and Safety Consciousness on Psychological Well-Being of Healthcare Workers.

Occupational health researchers have begun to realize that the psychological well-being of healthcare workers who are providing treatment against COVID-19 is deteriorating. However, there is minimal research conducted on it, particularly in the context of leadership. The current study aims to fill this important gap by identifying critical factors that can enhance the psychological well-being of healthcare workers. We proposed that safety specific transformational leadership enhances psychological well-being among healthcare workers, and COVID-19 perceived risk mediates this relationship. Furthermore, the safety conscientiousness of healthcare workers was proposed to be a boundary condition that enhances the negative relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and COVID-19 perceived risk. Data were collected from healthcare workers (N = 232) treating COVID-19 patients in the hospitals of Pakistan through well-established adopted questionnaires. The discriminant and convergent validity of the data was tested through confirmatory factor analysis by using AMOS statistical package. The mediation and moderation hypotheses were tested by using PROCESS Macro by Hayes. The results showed that safety specific transformational leadership enhances psychological well-being among healthcare workers, and COVID-19 perceived risk mediates this relationship. Moderation results also confirmed that safety conscientiousness moderates the relationship between safety specific transformational leadership and COVID-19 perceived risk. This study offers implications for both researchers and practitioners.

The Effects of Safety-specific Transformational Leadership and Active Transactional Leadership on Mindful Safety Practices Adoption in the Chinese Petroleum Industry

Previous studies have concentrated on the value of managerial leadership for the safety behavior conduction by the employees in the workplace. However, safety leadership styles concerning mindful safety practices have rarely been examined. The goal of this study is therefore to investigate the relationships between safety-specific leaderships (transformational and active transactional leadership) and the adoption of mindful safety practices among the first-line workers mediated by safety climate in the Chinese petroleum industry. Data were obtained from first-line workers in the two Chinese petroleum companies. PLS-SEM results have shown that transformational and active transactional leadership are positively related to safety climate, which in turn affect the mindful safety practices adoption in the Chinese petroleum industry. The results of the current study indicate that transformational and active transactional leadership in a safety-specific view offer a comprehensive leadership model for mindful safety practices conduction in the Chinese petroleum industry.

Safety Behavior among Construction Workers: Influences of Personality and Leadership

This study investigated whether the relationships of personality with safety compliance and safety participation remains significant when safety-specific transformational leadership is supplied by supervisors. It also tested the moderating role of this leadership in the personality–safety behavior relationship. One hundred twenty workers completed the Big Five personality test and graded their supervisors’ leadership, and the workers’ safety behavior was assessed by the supervisors. The results showed that conscientiousness was related positively with safety compliance. Contrary to our theorizing, agreeableness was related negatively with safety compliance. Leadership always positively related to safety compliance and participation, and it also attenuated the relationships of conscientiousness and agreeableness with safety compliance. This enhances the importance of considering safety leadership as an antecedent and intervention of employee safety behavior. However, conscientiousness and agreeableness remained related with safety compliance when safety leadership was considered simultaneously. These findings expand the limited research on the personality–safety behavior relationship in the construction field. Evaluating conscientiousness and agreeableness prior to recruitment can enable employers proactively to curtail unacceptable safety transgressions. Enhancing supervisors’ safety leadership helps to prevent employees from performing safety-related actions that are subject to individual dispositions.

In the Driver’s Seat: The Role of Transformational Leadership in Safe and Productive Truck Cargo Transport

This study investigates the effect of safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL) on the performance outcomes of safe driving and driving productivity in both long and short-haul truck cargo transport. We conduct our study in the context of a hazardous material (HAZMAT) Indian transport company using a sample of 1,196 trips across 104 unique routes, and driven by 71 truck drivers over a 30-month span. We establish that SSTL is beneficial for truck driving productivity as it positively influences driving productivity in long-haul trips. There is no conclusive evidence of a negative effect on the productivity in short-haul trips. Furthermore, our results show that more experienced drivers are also more likely to indulge in risky driving behavior. Our findings have immediate practical applications for transport companies that wish to promote operational safety, while safeguarding and even improving operational productivity.

The Influence of Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership and Safety Management Practices on Mindful Safety Practices through Safety Motivation: A Study in the Chinese Petroleum Industry

Petroleum Industry belongs to the high-risk industry, where potential hazards related to safety, health and environment exist. Therefore, the employees’ safety behavior plays an extraordinary role for workplace safety maintenance and excellent safety records achievement. Compared with common safety behavior that includes safety compliance and safety participation, limited researchers focused on the special component of safety behavior-mindful safety practices in the high-risk industry. In this study, safety-specific transformational leadership and six dimensions of safety management practices are identified as the independent variables to predict the adoption of mindful safety practices by the first-line workers in the Chinese Petroleum Industry mediated by safety motivation.

The antecedents of safety leadership: The job demands-resources model

Although research has shown that safety leadership is a strong predictor of safety outcomes, it is unclear what factors lead to safety leadership. This unexplored area has hindered the development of effective interventions to promote safety leadership.This study addresses the knowledge gap by examining how job characteristics and personal resources influence construction leaders’ engagement in safety leadership based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model in positive psychology. An online survey was distributed to all managerial employees in a large U.S. construction organization, resulting in 383 valid responses. The structural equation modeling analysis indicates that job characteristics (social support, work autonomy and risk perception) and personal resources (psychological capital) significantly contribute to safety-specific transformational leadership through work engagement. Moreover, psychological capital moderates the effect of social support on leaders’ engagement in safety leadership. The implications of the present findings regarding safety leadership research are also discussed.

Safety specific transformational leadership, safety motivation and personal protective equipment use among firefighters

Personal protective equipment (PPE) use, although normally the last line of preferred hazard control, is vital to protecting firefighters. It is vital that research identify factors that positively influence firefighter behaviors associated with PPE use. Data were collected from 742 career firefighters working for metropolitan fire departments in both the eastern and western United States. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the hypothesized model and relationships between safety-specific transformational leadership, safety motivation and effective use of personal protective equipment. Safety-specific transformational leadership was positively associated with firefighter safety motivation and safety motivation was positively associated with personal protective equipment use. There was also a significant direct relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and personal protective equipment use. Transformational leadership has not been an emphasis in the fire service because of its hierarchical structure and paramilitary-like traditions. Current fire service stakeholders have called for changes in leadership strategies and the overall culture within the fire service. This research provides additional evidence that safety-specific transformational leadership can bolster safety motivation among firefighters and can result in enhanced safety performance, including the proper and effective use of personal protective equipment.

Safety-specific transformational leadership, safety climate and occupational accidents

Despite the fact that safety-specific transformational leadership had been reported to have favorable outcomes on workplace safety, there is limited work on identifying its role in decreasing occupational accidents at workplace. The current study looks to fill this void by proposing safety-specific leadership approach to combat occupational accidents via safety climate. Data were collected from 270 production workers of Oil and Gas Industry across four states of Malaysia. Results showed strong support for our suppositions. Safety climate mediated the relationship between safety-specific leadership and occupational accidents. The supposition linking safety-specific transformational leadership to safety climate and safety climate to occupational accidents also found considerable support. The results are discussed in the light of previous literature and the contributions made by the study.

The Influence of Safety-Specific Transformational Leadership and High-Quality Relationships on Mindful Safety Practices Through Safety Climate: A Study in Chinese Petroleum Industry

Petroleum Industry in China makes an extraordinary contribution to the Chinese economy and employment. However, the Chinese Petroleum Industry belongs to the high-risk Industry and potential hazards exist. Therefore, the safety behavior of employees especially first-line workers in the Petroleum Industry needs to be paid high attention as once the accidents happen under the social-technical system the spread of accidents is hard to control. Therefore, mindful safety practices as a special component safety behavior are identified as the dependent variable to understand if safety-specific transformational leadership and the high-quality relationships could predict it mediated by safety climate as the common safety behavior.

A moderated-mediated model of youth safety

PurposeWorkplace injury and death of young persons are important concerns. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the mediating role of safety behaviours underpinning the relationship between perceived safety climate (PSC) and injuries, and the moderating roles of safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL), general transformational leadership (GTL) and training in influencing the mediation, for young workers.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory, online questionnaire was completed by 367 university students employed in various industries. Data were analysed using moderated mediation.FindingsSafety behaviours mediated the relationship between PSC and injuries. SSTL moderated the relationship between PSC and safety behaviours, but GTL did not. Training did not positively moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and injuries, yet may still inform us on the training by referent others since safety behaviour mediated the relationship between PSC and injuries when SSTL, GTL and training were high.Research limitations/implicationsA student sample was utilised, but was appropriate in this context as it is representative of the type of workers being studied. Longitudinal data with larger diverse data sets should be incorporated.Practical implicationsBusiness owners must utilise both forms of leadership to promote a safe workplace. HR and H&S professionals must continue to encourage this promotion.Social implicationsSafety training and leadership are important for policy makers and regulators to reduce workplace injuries for youth workers.Originality/valueThis study is the first to test youth H&S using moderated mediation. Safety specific and general forms of leadership and training are important predictors.

Safety-Specific Leadership, Goal Orientation, and Near-Miss Recognition: The Cross-Level Moderating Effects of Safety Climate.

Near-miss recognition is an increasingly important area of research in safety management. Drawing on the self-determination theory, we ask whether and how safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-specific active transactional leadership promote near-miss recognition. We also explore the boundary condition by focusing on the moderating role of safety climate. We analyzed time-lagged data from 370 participants, and found that safety-specific transformational leadership enhances employees’ near-miss recognition (by enhancing their learning goal orientation), and that safety-specific active transactional leadership also positively influences employees’ near-miss recognition (by stimulating their performance goal orientation). In addition, we show that safety climate strengthens the relationship between safety-specific transactional leadership and employees’ performance goal orientation, but does not affect the relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and employees’ learning goal orientation. We discuss the implications and limitations of the research.