Leadership in the safety sense: where does perceived organisational support fit?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine leaders’ influence on the safety behaviours of employees and the possible mediating role of perceived organisational support (POS), focussing on transformational and transactional leadership. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through a survey from 264 engineers and technicians in the power transmission subsector in Ghana and analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings The analyses revealed that transformational leadership influenced safety behaviours positively while transactional leadership had no significant influence on employees’ safety behaviours. POS also mediated between the leadership styles and safety behaviours. Practical implications Supervisors need to exhibit more transformational leadership behaviours and organisations need to show support for their employees’ wellbeing in order to aid supervisors’ influence on employees’ safety behaviours, especially if the leaders are more transactional in nature. Originality/value The study addresses a dearth in literature and highlights the influences of leadership styles on the safety behaviours of the employees, as well as the importance of the organisation to commit to employees’ support and safety so as to enhance their good perceptions and consequently elicit better performance from them.