Can Leader-Member Exchange contribute to safety performance in an Italian warehouse?

Introduction: The research considers safety climate in a warehouse and wants to
analyze the Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) role in respect to safety performance.
Griffin and Neal’s safety model was adopted and Leader-Member Exchange was
inserted as moderator in the relationships between safety climate and proximal
antecedents (motivation and knowledge) of safety performance constructs (compliance
and participation).
Materials and Methods: Survey data were collected from a sample of 133 full-time
employees in an Italian warehouse. The statistical framework of Hayes (2013) was
adopted for moderated mediation analysis.
Results: Proximal antecedents partially mediated the relationship between Safety
climate and safety participation, but not safety compliance. Moreover, the results from
the moderation analysis showed that the Leader–Member Exchange moderated the
influence of safety climate on proximal antecedents and the mediation exist only at the
higher level of LMX.
Conclusion: The study shows that the different aspects of leadership processes
interact in explaining individual proficiency in safety practices.
Practical Implications: Organizations as warehouses should improve the quality of the
relationship between a leader and a subordinate based upon the dimensions of respect,
trust, and obligation for high level of safety performance.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fps...