Leadership style(s) that contribute to perceived psychological safety in the mining industry in South Africa : a post pandemic view

Abstract

Purpose- Since the inception of psychological safety and leadership as conceptual constructs, empirical research has proliferated in their respective fields. While both constructs have received much attention and traction from scholars in their respective fields, most of these studies were conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, there was need to investigate what psychological safety and leadership should look like within the new work context. As constructs that are crucial for the success and productivity of today's globalised business environment, the study aimed to assess the conditions that contribute to employees' perceived psychological safety, find out what leadership styles influence the phenomena positively, and lastly, determine whether leaders were able to be adaptable to lead within the current context. Design/Methodology- For this study, data was generated from semi-structured interviews, which allowed for open-ended questions, enabling participants to give their own lived experiences of the phenomena under study. Respondents comprise middle managers in the mining industry from different mining houses. A total of 12 respondents were interviewed through Microsoft teams. The study employed qualitative data analysis to gain deeper insights into participants' experiences of psychological safety, leadership styles facilitating psychological safety, and leader adaptability during the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings- The investigation, through thematic coding, revealed that the factors contributing to employees' perceived psychological safety remain the same after the Covid-19 pandemic, however, under different work arrangements that call for flexibility and more empathy. Furthermore, the findings revealed that transformational leadership is the leadership style that employees perceive to contribute toward employees' perceived psychological safety. Lastly, findings revealed that most leaders continued to lead the way they did before the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in employees experiencing compromised psychological safety.