Safety-Specific Passive-Avoidant Leadership and Safety Compliance among Chinese Steel Workers: The Moderating Role of Safety Moral Belief and Organizational Size

Lin Liu, Qiang Mei, Lixin Jiang, Jinnan Wu, Suxia Liu and Meng Wang
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Lin Liu: School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Qiang Mei: School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Lixin Jiang: School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
Jinnan Wu: School of Business, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243032, China
Suxia Liu: School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Meng Wang: School of Business, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243032, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Despite the documented relationship between active-approaching leadership behaviors and workplace safety, few studies have addressed whether and when passive-avoidant leadership affects safety behavior. This study examined the relationship between two types of safety-specific passive-avoidant leadership, i.e., safety-specific leader reward omission (SLRO) and safety-specific leader punishment omission (SLPO), and safety compliance, as well as the moderating effects of an individual difference (safety moral belief) and an organizational difference (organizational size) in these relationships. These predictions were tested on a sample of 704 steel workers in China. The results showed that, although both SLRO and SLPO are negatively related to safety compliance, SLPO demonstrated a greater effect than SLRO. Moreover, we found that steel workers with high levels of safety moral belief were more resistant to the negative effects of SLRO and SLPO on safety compliance. Although steel workers in large enterprises were more resistant to the negative effects of SLPO than those in small enterprises, the SLRO-compliance relationship is not contingent upon organizational size. The current study enriched the safety leadership literature by demonstrating the detrimental and relative effects of two types of safety-specific passive-avoidant leadership on safety compliance and by identifying two boundary conditions that can buffer these relationships among steel workers.

Keywords: passive-avoidant leadership; safety-specific leader reward omission; safety-specific leader punishment omission; safety moral beliefs; safety compliance; steel workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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