There is a growing body of evidence supporting the positive association between transformational leadership (Bass, 1985) and employee safety performance behavior (Clarke, 2013). Behaviors that are characteristic of transformational leadership have been shown to be associated with both employee safety participation and compliance. Clarke’s (2013) meta-analysis showed that both transformational and transactional leadership were significantly associated with safety compliance and participation. The data indicate that transformational leadership has a stronger association with safety participation than with safety compliance. Similarly, results from a meta-analysis by Christian et al. (2009) showed that leaders have a stronger influence on employee safety participation than safety compliance.
The relationship between the specific facets of transformational leadership and employee safety behavior has also been examined. For example, through leader-employee social interactions, employees observe their leader’s behavior and interpret such behavior as being reflective of the priority the leader places on safety ( Zohar and Tenne-Gazit, 2008). Results from a randomized intervention field study conducted by Zohar and Polachek (2014) suggest that when leaders communicate the safety priorities in daily meetings (characteristic of transformational leadership), employee reports of perceived priority of safety increase, and subsequently perceptions of safety climate level and employee safety behavior increase (Zohar and Polachek, 2014). Hoffmeister et al. (2014) examined the impact of the facets of transformational and transactional leadership on apprentice and journeymen safety behavior. The results showed that idealized influence (i.e., evoking trust, respect, being a role model of safety) predicted safety compliance behavior in both the apprentice and journeymen samples. In terms of safety participation, idealized influence, inspirational motivation (i.e., communicate vision for safety, inspire safety behavior) and contingent reward predicted apprentice safety participation. In the journeymen sample, the results showed that the global measure of leadership predicted safety participation and no specific facet of transformational leadership was influential on safety participation. The research suggests that transformational leadership, particularly idealized influence, is an important determinant of both safety compliance and safety participation.