The Association of Leadership Style and Coronavirus Anxiety with Safety Behavior among Workers of the Sanitary Products Industry in Qom Province, Iran: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Background: Organizational success depends on leadership style. Leadership style probably affects coronavirus anxiety and workers’ safety behavior at work. This study aims to examine the structural association between leadership style and coronavirus anxiety with safety behavior among workers in the sanitary products industry in Qom Province. Materials & Methods: This descriptive-correlative study was conducted on 260 workers in the sanitary products industry in Qom Province in 2020 using a systematic random sampling method. For data collection, Alipour Coronavirus Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), Lathans Leadership Style Questionnaire, Mahdinia Safety Behavior Questionnaire, and demographic checklist were used. In addition, multivariate analysis of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to analyze the variables via SPSS V.22.0 and Smart PLS V.3.2.8. Results: Leadership style had a positive significant correlation with safety behavior (r=0.19) (p-value < 0.01), yet it had an insignificant negative correlation with coronavirus anxiety (r= -0.12). Besides, coronavirus anxiety had an insignificant negative correlation with safety behavior. The results of structural equation modeling showed that the path coefficient of leadership style and coronavirus anxiety (r=0.16) with safety behavior (r=0.46) was significant (p-value < 0.01); however, the path coefficient between coronavirus anxiety and safety behavior (r= -0.16) was not significant. Conclusions: We concluded that the factor loadings coefficients of the structural model were equal to or higher than the acceptable value of 0.4 in all cases confirming the structural model was appropriate. Furthermore, coronavirus anxiety and safety behavior can be predicted among the workers using leadership style.