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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Empowering team leadership and safety performance in nuclear power plants: A multilevel approach

Mario Martínez-córcolesInés TomásJosé M. PeiróMarkus SchöbelFrancisco J. Gracia

subject

Team compositionEngineeringbusiness.industryApplied psychologyMultilevel modelPublic Health Environmental and Occupational HealthHuman factors and ergonomicsPoison controlPsychological safetyBuilding and ConstructionShared leadershipComputer securitycomputer.software_genreOccupational safety and healthEmpirical researchSafety Risk Reliability and QualitybusinessSafety Researchcomputer

description

Abstract Despite the large body of work on team leadership, hardly any literature has dealt with team leadership in safety performance settings. The goal of the present study is to analyze how team leader behaviors influence team members’ safety performance in nuclear power plants. For this purpose, an empowering leadership approach was assessed. We consider a multilevel model in which safety performance is divided into three types of behaviors. The sample was composed of 479 workers in 54 groups from two Spanish nuclear power plants. The results suggested that leaders’ empowering behaviors generated higher safety compliance behaviors and higher safety participation behaviors by team members, whereas risky behaviors were reduced. Empirical support was found for hierarchical linear modeling linking leadership and safety performance behaviors. Practical implications, study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2012.08.001