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NAERINGSPH-Nærings-phd

Antecedents and Outcomes of Authentic Leadership in the Maritime Industry

Awarded: NOK 1.3 mill.

This project focuses on how leadership connects with safety on board Norwegian-owned cargo vessels manned by Filipino captains, officers and crew. The first data were collected from 486 officers and crew with a survey that covered "authentic leadership", "safety climate" and "socially desirable responding". Analyses showed that the authentic leadership style was positively connected to safety attitudes and -motivation. The results are now published in the international peer review journal "Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies." Following this, we conducted 23 in-depth research interviews with Filipino captains. We asked questions like "How come you became a captain?" and "What are the most challenging parts of your job on board?" To date, the analysis indicate that there are a variety of reasons why these captains have climbed to the top of their career ladder, spanning from being in love with the sea to never wanting their own family to ever experience poverty. The captains also tell different tales of the challenges they meet when working on board; from being far away from their loved ones to dealing with at times conflicting demands from various authorities across the world, and even from the company's cargo- and technical operations. These interviews have been analysed from a grounded theory strategy that involves continuous, inductive cycles of cleaning, condensing, contrasting and comparing emerging themes in the data material, in order to explore the questions of how highly rated captains view their own leadership role and how they handle interpersonal relations on board. The results are planned as the second article in the PhD project and have been reviewed by a peer reviewed journal. A revised manuscript will be submitted early in 2017. A second aim of the interview study was to uncover how captains have developed their leadership style, -values, and -philosophy. The final article for the PhD project will therefore take a life story approach and will explore how highly rated captains describe their development as leaders, and whether significant life events (so called "trigger events") are perceived to have played a part in their developmental processes. Analytical work on this paper has been conducted in parallel with the second paper, and a manuscript will be submitted in the spring of 2017.

This project will contribute to Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) objectives in the Norwegian maritime industry by validating uthentic Leadership as a potential human factor benchmark for loss prevention. Despite technological innovations, the mari time industry is still subject to claims and losses. Previous research has indicated that human factors and social processes are key contributors to maritime accidents. There is still a lack of studies pertaining to leadership as an antecedent to safety o n board. Lately, emerging research in organizational psychology has identified the concept of Authentic Leadership. This new approach to positive organizational behavior (POB) represents a promising new approach to the indexing of safety critical leadersh ip behavior in the maritime industry. Research in organizational psychology has linked certain leadership characteristics to a sustained and positive HSE culture (i.e. no harm to people, ship, or the environment). Our point of departure in this PhD projec t is research indicating that loss prevention and HSE outcomes are substantially influenced by perceptions of and attitudes towards local leaders. Also, converging evidence in modern organizational psychology suggest that authentic leadership is a crucial organizational factor in contributing to favorable work outcomes and safety climate. Thus, the main focus of the present project will be to examine antecedents and outcomes of authentic leadership in the maritime industry here represented by the Grieg Sh ipping Company.

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NAERINGSPH-Nærings-phd