How safety leadership influences employee safety participation and compliance through safety knowledge: the moderating role of psychological resilience

Introduction: This study developed a multilevel model to examine the mechanisms that link safety leadership to employee safety behaviors. We investigated (a) the mediating role of individual safety knowledge in the correlation between team-level safety leadership and employees' safety compliance and participation, and (b) the moderating role of psychological resilience in this mediation process. Methods: We gathered three-wave survey data from 505 frontline employees and 88 supervisors within China's electric power industry. Results: Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed that safety leadership positively influenced both safety compliance and participation. Employee safety knowledge significantly mediated this relationship. Furthermore, psychological resilience moderated this process: the positive effect of safety knowledge on both safety compliance and participation is stronger among employees with high psychological resilience. Discussion: These findings indicate that organizations should invest in safety leadership training to enhance employee knowledge and foster psychological resilience as a crucial personal resource, enabling employees to more effectively convert safety knowledge into safe behavior.