Charismatic and corrective leadership dimensions as antecedents of employee safety behaviours: A structural model

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate idealised influence under transformational leadership and active management-by-exception (MBE-A) under transactional leadership as the predictors of employee safety behaviours among engineers and technicians in the Ghanaian power transmission subsector.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a cross-sectional survey design and a quantitative approach to gather data from 278 respondents through the use of a structured questionnaire. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and test the hypotheses with 264 usable responses.

Findings

The analysis revealed that idealised influence had positive significant effects on both safety compliance and safety participation of employees. Surprisingly, MBE-A had a positive influence on safety participation but not on safety compliance.

Practical implications

The findings of this study present useful practical implications for leaders and policy makers in organisations in engendering good safety behaviours of employees and improving overall organisational safety performance.

Originality/value

The variables used in the study together with the study’s Ghanaian bureaucratic context present interesting and fresh insights into the interplay between leadership and employee safety, thereby contributing to the discourse on the safety leadership construct.

Citation

Dartey-Baah, K. and Addo, S.A. (2018), "Charismatic and corrective leadership dimensions as antecedents of employee safety behaviours: A structural model", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 186-201. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-08-2017-0240