Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Sep 2023)
The Nexus Between Ethical Leadership and Employees’ Perception of Workplace Safety During COVID-19 Under Mediation and Moderation Model
Abstract
Jianmin Sun,1 Muddassar Sarfraz,2 Muhammad Asghar3 1School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Management, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, 310015, People’s Republic of China; 3Business School, Hunan University, Changsha, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Muddassar Sarfraz, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Workplace safety is a crucial aspect of employee well-being and organizational success, with ethical leadership playing a key role in shaping employees’ perceptions of safety. Today, the underlying mechanisms through which ethical leadership influences workplace safety perception remain underexplored, especially in the Pakistan healthcare industry. Based on the social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception and examine the mediating role of media quality, communication climate, and supervisory communication and the moderating role of moral attentiveness.Methods: An empirical survey method was used to conduct the quantitative study, with respondents representing nursing staff from hospitals in Pakistan. Data was collected using an online questionnaire during COVID-19, and Smart PLS was used to analyze the data.Results: The study demonstrated that ethical leadership positively and significantly affects workplace safety perception. Media quality, communication climate, and supervisory communication mediate between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception. Moral attentiveness moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace safety perception.Conclusion: Ethical leadership is an essential tool that improves media quality, communication climate, supervisory communication, and moral attentiveness. The article presents a novel approach to examining the relationship between ethical leadership and workers’ safety perceptions under the influence of mediating and moderating variables. By better understanding these dynamics, the study contributes to developing organizational strategies to improve workplace safety and overall employee well-being. In addition, it is a pioneering study exploring ethical leadership’s role in influencing workers’ perceptions of safety. Overall, the study is a great initiative that fosters the ethical concepts of individuals, thus achieving health protection and safety.Keywords: ethical leadership, workplace safety, communication climate, supervisory communication, nurses, COVID-19, healthcare policy
