Safety-specific transformational leadership :an experimental study

Abstract

A model of safety-specific transformational leadership and passive safety leadership was developed and empirically evaluated based on a sample of young workers. The results of structural equation modeling illustrated that safety climate and safety compliance mediated the relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-related events and injuries. Passive safety leadership predicted safety climate and accounted for variance in the safety climate variable over and above the variance attributed to safety-specific transformational leadership. The generalizability of the model was examined in a second study in which the theoretical propositions of the model were validated in a sample of long-term health care employees. The nature of the safety-specific transformational leadership construct was examined and results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that safety-specific transformational leadership and general transformational leadership are empirically distinct constructs. Studies 3 and 4 build on the established model by assessing an intervention aimed at enhancing safety-specific transformational leadership. The leadership intervention was assessed using a field experiment in which 21 long-term health care organizations and their leaders were randomly assigned to general transformational leadership training, safety-specific transformational leadership training or a control group. In Study 3, the effects of the training on leaders' self-reported attitudes toward safety, self-efficacy and intent to promote safety were assessed. Manager safety attitudes and self efficacy were significantly higher in the safety-specific condition than they were in either the general or control conditions. In Study 4, the effects of training on subordinates' perceptions of leader safety-specific transformational leadership, passive safety leadership, safety climate, safety participation, safety compliance, safety-related events and injuries were assessed. The analysis revealed an effect of leadership training for the safety-specific transformational leadership and safety climate outcomes.