How transactional and transformational safety leadership behaviours are demonstrated within the construction industry

Abstract Transactional and transformational safety leadership have been repeatedly found to be important for safety. Yet how transactional and transformational leadership behaviours are most effectively demonstrated can be dependent on the context and industry. Using an ethnographic approach, supervisor safety leadership was explored across eleven construction sites in Australia. The findings revealed that, within the construction site context, contingent reward, idealised influence, and management-by-exception behaviours demonstrated by supervisors closely aligned with their definitions in Full-Range Leadership Theory (FRLT). These three types of leadership behaviour reflect observation of supervisors’ positive actions, which included: praising workers for good safety performance; proactively anticipating and attending to safety issues; and consistently leading-by-example with safety, even at times of significant production pressure. Other theoretically described dimensions of leadership behaviour, i.e. individual consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation, were not directly reflected in observed supervisors’ behaviour in the way they are conceptualised in FRLT. The existence of a good supervisor-worker relationship enabled workers to comfortably raise safety issues, think creatively about how to undertake work safely, and talk to their supervisor if they were experiencing personal problems. These are motivational, intellectual, and empathetic elements of leadership, which do not directly align with the way leadership behaviours are conceptualised in mainstream FRLT. The study suggests that, in the construction worksite context, leadership behaviours may take a form that differs from theoretical ideal types and that ethnographically attained insights into supervisors’ interactions with workers can contribute to understanding transformational and transactional leadership in practical terms.