**Hypothesis 4.** *There is a positive impact of safety consciousness on safety performance*.

#### *2.5. Responsible Leadership as Moderator for Safety Consciousness and Safety Performance*

Clarke [60] noted that "there is very limited understanding of the impact of leadership styles on safety outcomes" (p. 1175). Except for a transformational leadership style, empowering leadership, and safety leadership, which drew more research attention, leadership styles have not been adequately investigated in this context [65–67]. Many argue that leaders are the prime drivers of high-reliability organizations (i.e., [68]). For example, top management is often responsible for the implementation of safety-enhancing systems and the development of a safety-oriented culture. When the responsible leaders weigh different stakeholder claims before deciding, it helps in building trust and people feel free to share their safety problems and seek solutions. This enhances safety consciousness and ensures safety performance. Rare evidence is available in the literature explaining responsible leadership with relation to safety outcomes. However, it is possible that when the leaders act as role models, as per social exchange theory, the people adopt the same behaviors as their role models [69]; this boosts safety compliance and performance.

Abbas et al. [70] argued that employees are the critical stakeholders of organizations and are responsible for protecting the organizational environment via their safety mindfulness and interpersonal interaction. The safety of mindfulness and interactions are shaped by the responsible leader's powerful forces of protection, acquisition, connection, and understanding [71]. In the presence of reinforcement from the responsible leaders, this mindfulness further leads to better safety performance.

**Hypothesis 5.** *Responsible leadership significantly moderates the relationship between safety consciousness and safety performance*.
