The buck stops at the top : comparison of safety related leadership antecedents in prosecuted and non-prosecuted organisations in New Zealand.

摘要

The current research emerged in response to recent alerts of increasing organisational safety failures in New Zealand’s high risk industries. It was theorized that safety climate may be largely determined by the quality of safety-centered leadership under which an organisation operates. The study utilized reports of organisational safety prosecutions within New Zealand to develop a quasi-experimental design which compared persecuted and non-prosecuted company’s leaders on measures of ethical values, moral philosophy, social responsibility, corporate psychopathy, and leadership style. Issues of response rate inherent to the study design were encountered during data collection, and no significant between group differences consistent with the study predictions were found. Theoretical and practical interpretations are made in light of the results, suggesting that dynamics within group-decision processes and the top governing structure of companies may be significant factors in affecting leader safety performances within these industries.