PurposeDrawing upon conservation of resources theory, this study aims to explore how ethical leadership relates to subordinates' emotional exhaustion through the chain mediating effects of organizational networking behavior and organizational embeddedness.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 447 airport employees in China. PROCESS macro in SPSS was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated that ethical leadership is negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion; organizational networking behavior and organizational embeddedness play a chain mediating role in the negative relationship between ethical leadership and emotional exhaustion.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights into the association between ethical leadership and emotional exhaustion, and enriches the antecedents and consequences of organizational networking behavior.