Authentic leadership and sustainable operations: How leader morality and selflessness can foster frontline safety performance

Abstract Given the roles of leadership and safety for cleaner, sustainable production, in this paper we advance research on the connections between leader behaviors and occupational safety in frontline operations. We ground our framework on authentic leadership theory and propose that leader morality and selflessness can influence safety outcomes through two pathways: by increasing frontline employees' psychological capital and organizational citizenship. We tested these propositions with data from 307 employees from a large private company that operates in production, distribution, and sales of fuels in Brazil. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that authentic leaders’ morality and selflessness affect the psychological capital of frontline employees, while only the latter affects their citizenship behavior; and both psycap and OCB mediate the effects of authentic leader attributes on frontline safety participation and safety compliance. Our findings clarify the connections between virtuous leadership and frontline safety performance, highlighting areas of managerial development that can impact sustainable operations, particularly in high-risk industries.