Leadership strategies, management decisions and safety culture in road transport organizations

Abstract In Norway, approximately 688 people are injured each year in traffic accidents involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), and for every third road fatality there is an HGV involved. Norway has approximately 35% more fatalities per inhabitant resulting from accidents involving HGVs compared to the rest of Europe. These numbers suggest that interventions are needed to reduce road accidents involving HGVs in Norway. This paper contributes to the field of road transportation research by identifying how strategic management decisions can affect road transport organizations’ ability to develop a good safety culture. Semi-structured interviews with 16 participants were conducted. The findings suggest that road transport organizations that choose a low-cost leadership strategy struggle to be profitable. Moreover, such strategies lead to high rivalry between organizations. Such rivalry makes it difficult to be profitable, hence there are fewer resources available to invest in building a good safety culture. In contrast, road transport organizations that choose a differentiation or focus leadership strategy are more likely to be profitable. As a consequence, they have more resources to invest in building a safety culture.