Examining the impact of ethical leadership on safety and task performance: a safety-critical context

The Nexus Between Ethical Leadership and Employees' Perception of Workplace Safety During COVID-19 Under Mediation and Moderation Model

Background

Workplace safety is a crucial aspect of employee well-being and organizational success, with ethical leadership playing a key role in shaping employees' perceptions of safety. Today, the underlying mechanisms through which ethical leadership influences workplace safety perception remain underexplored, especially in the Pakistan healthcare industry. Based on the social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception and examine the mediating role of media quality, communication climate, and supervisory communication and the moderating role of moral attentiveness.

Methods

An empirical survey method was used to conduct the quantitative study, with respondents representing nursing staff from hospitals in Pakistan. Data was collected using an online questionnaire during COVID-19, and Smart PLS was used to analyze the data.

Results

The study demonstrated that ethical leadership positively and significantly affects workplace safety perception. Media quality, communication climate, and supervisory communication mediate between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception. Moral attentiveness moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception.

Conclusion

Ethical leadership is an essential tool that improves media quality, communication climate, supervisory communication, and moral attentiveness. The article presents a novel approach to examining the relationship between ethical leadership and workers' safety perceptions under the influence of mediating and moderating variables. By better understanding these dynamics, the study contributes to developing organizational strategies to improve workplace safety and overall employee well-being. In addition, it is a pioneering study exploring ethical leadership's role in influencing workers' perceptions of safety. Overall, the study is a great initiative that fosters the ethical concepts of individuals, thus achieving health protection and safety.

How Does Leadership in Safety Management Affect Employees' Safety Performance? A Case Study from Mining Enterprises in China

Leadership is a necessary element for ensuring workplace safety. Rather little is known about the role of leadership safety behaviours (LSBs) in the mining industry. Using regression analysis and structural equation modelling analysis, this study examined the cause-and-effect relationships between leadership safety behaviours and safety performance. Data were collected by questionnaires from 305 miners in China. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, which identified five main dimensions of LSBs: safety management commitment, safety communication with feedback, safety policy, safety incentives, and safety training; the analysis also identified three main dimensions of safety performance: employee’s safety compliance, safety participation, and safety accidents. The results showed the overall effects of each LSB variable on safety compliance in descending order as: safety training (0.504), safety incentives (0.480), safety communication with feedback (0.377), safety management commitment (0.281), and safety policy (0.110). The overall effects of each LSB variable on safety participation in descending order were: safety training (0.706), safety incentives (0.496), safety management commitment (0.365), and safety policy (0.247). Furthermore, we found that safety management commitment and safety incentives increased employees’ safety behaviours, but this influence was mediated by safety training, safety policy, and safety communication with feedback.

My LMX standing with my leader as compared to my coworkers: conditional indirect effect of LMX social comparison

Purpose

The paper examines the effect of relative leader-member exchange (LMX) on follower's in-role performance, citizenship behaviour and cynicism via relational identification. Moreover, LMXSC (LMXSC) moderates the direct and mediating relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on multi-level (individual and group level) model, dyadic data were collected from 298 employees working under 47 group managers in the banking sector in Pakistan.

Findings

The multi-level moderated mediation model tested in Mplus and HLM software showed the full support for direct, mediating and moderating hypothesized relationships; however, the moderated mediation hypothesis was partially supported. It reveals that relative LMX standing of followers predicted in-role performance, organizational citizenship behaviour at an individual level (OCB-individual) and cynicism. Relational identification with the leader mediated the relationship. Moreover, at high LMXSC, the relationship between relative LMX and relational identification and consequently the outcomes were stronger.

Originality/value

LMX has widely been studied at dyadic level, despite the suggested high and low LMX quality relationships that exist in a workgroup. This study not only investigates the role of relative LMX on employee performance through relational identification but also reports that subjective evaluation of LMXSC plays a major role in promoting employee performance.

The impact of ethical leadership on employee creative deviance: the mediating role of job autonomy

Purpose

This study aims to explore the impact of ethical leadership on employee creative deviance, with job autonomy as a mediator and creative self-efficacy as a moderator between job autonomy and creative deviance.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was developed based on construct measures from the literature. A total of 316 responses were received from employees of information and communication technology companies located in China's Pearl River Delta.

Findings

Both ethical leadership and job autonomy have a positive impact on employee creative deviance; job autonomy plays a mediating role between ethical leadership and creative deviance; creative self-efficacy does not have a significant moderating effect on the job autonomy-creative deviance relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies could explore the potential moderating role of both job autonomy and creative-self efficacy in the link between ethical leadership and creative deviance.

Practical implications

This study recommends that organizations should adopt and promote an ethical leadership approach to manage creative deviance at work. Organizations could explore alternative methods of task completion to support the job autonomy for the employees to mitigate the dilemmas associated with creative deviance.

Originality/value

This is one of few studies that examine the impact of ethical leadership on employee's creative deviance, despite the fact that the influence of ethical leadership on the followers has been extensively examined.