Responsible leadership and workplace safety: do safety culture and safety motivation matter?

Purpose We sought to examine the effect of responsible leadership on employee safety in the workplace both directly and indirectly through mediation effects of safety motivation and safety culture in the oil and gas industry in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach We employed a quantitative approach (survey) to collect data from 226 pump attendants of the fuel stations in the Accra Metropolis. This study used PLS-SEM to test the research hypotheses in the study. Findings Our findings show that leaders’ responsible behaviours had a positive and significant impact on both their employees’ wellbeing and safety as well as their motivation to adhere to safety standards and also imbibe a sense of safety culture in the workplace. Furthermore, the inclusion of safety motivation and safety culture as mediating variables reveal that leaders’ ability to achieve a robust workplace safety through responsible leadership was partially contingent on these organisational factors. Practical implications We highlight that leaders should continuously improve their responsible leadership behaviours and also the management of oil and gas companies should encourage managers to focus on day-to-day interactions with employees on safety-related matters (e.g. effectively inspiring and motivating employees to adhere to safety standards and procedures and applying sanctions when necessary). Originality/value This study answers the recent calls for a contingency perspective on the relationship between leadership styles and organisational/employee level outcomes by providing empirical support for our conceptual model which identifies safety motivation and safety culture as important organisational factors by which responsible leaders can positively influence workplace safety.