Safety-specific transformational and passive leadership styles: A contribution to their measurement

Research concerning the effects of leadership on work safety is characterized by two biases: a) in spite of its potential negative impact, passive leadership is understudied; b) general rather than specific measures of leadership are typically used, with the risk of not fully capturing the effects of superiors' behaviors on safety. Two studies examined the reliability and validity of an Italian version of two scales measuring safety-specific transformational and passive leadership, as proposed by Kelloway, Mullen, and Francis (2006). In Study 1, 340 workers from the manufacturing sector completed a questionnaire with the original items previously translated into Italian. Exploratory factor analysis revealed content ambiguity in one item and led to its reformulation. In Study 2, 216 construction workers completed a questionnaire with the adapted scales and a measure of safety climate. Results provided evidence of reliability as well as convergent and concurrent validity of the adapted scales.