Ethical leadership, perceived cultural inclusion, and job behaviors: A two‐sample study of mediation and moderation effects

Abstract

The present study tests whether the influence of ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) is mediated by perceived cultural inclusion. Further, we test the moderating effect of the supervisor's organizational embodiment, which should enhance positive effects. Finally, we combine these to test for moderated mediation. Using two New Zealand (NZ) samples (N = 205 and N = 266) across a broad range of occupations and ethnicities, we find strong support for our model. In both studies, ethical leadership is positively related to OCBs and perceived cultural inclusion mediates ethical leadership effects. Significant moderation and moderated mediation effects are found, showing enhanced effects when employees consider their supervisor as the embodiment of the organization. This study extends the links between ethical leadership and OCBs by including inclusion.

Measures of climate for inclusion and diversity: Review and summary

“…Third, we selected related research based on four inclusion criteria: (a) scholarly publications in English (e.g., peer‐reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters), (b) empirical studies that used a specific instrument to measure inclusive climate, diversity climate or related aspects, (c) demonstrated appropriate reliability and, if available, validity of the instrument, and (d) published in human resource, management, psychology, and social sciences journals. We excluded (a) related scales such as the workplace exclusion scale (Hitlan & Noel, 2009) and workplace ostracism scale (Ferris et al, 2008), (b) inclusion‐related measures used with groups in very specific education settings (e.g., teachers and students in the “Index for Inclusion” in higher education: Puente et al, 2021; The Inclusive Practice Scale (IPS) for teachers in postsecondary education: Sharma & Sokal, 2016), (c) measures of broader inclusion concepts such as cultural inclusion (Haar & Brougham, 2021) and social inclusion (Marino‐Francis & Worrall‐Davies, 2010), (d) diversity and inclusion measures comprised of single‐word descriptors rather than phrases or sentences (e.g., Roberson, 2006), and (e) single subscales of the original measures (e.g., the inclusion subscale of Organizational Cultural Intelligence Scale: Lima et al, 2016). For the inter‐rater reliability, we independently reviewed each article, compared each decision, discussed differences in our analysis and the reasons behind the differences, and reached a consensus.…”

Perceived discrimination of Māori and Pacific employees in Aotearoa/New Zealand: work and well-being consequences and testing the symbolic interaction perspective

“…Fundamentally, Phinney (1990) notes that employees perceiving unfavorable treatment because of membership in a group (e.g. being excluded because they are an ethnic minority) leads to feelings of conflict and exclusion, the opposite of inclusion (Haar and Brougham, 2022a). Hence, being told to “not use that language in this department!” when speaking a Pacific Island language or te reo Māori at work would place these minority employees firmly as “outsiders”.…”

“…At a basic level, organizations are encouraged to include some perceived discrimination items in climate surveys to understand the level of discrimination within their workplace. Providing training and development amongst leaders towards positive leadership styles such as ethical leadership (see Haar and Brougham, 2022a) are encouraged. These findings might also be broadly applicable beyond the Aotearoa/New Zealand context of the study.…”

“…However, psychologically, it is damaging for an individual to feel they do not belong and are in the outside group at work, which might similarly reflect the lowest form of inclusion (see Shore et al ., 2011). Indeed, Haar and Brougham (2022a) showed the importance of workplace inclusion by targeting cultural factors, which make minority employees feel valued and part of the in-group.…”

“…However, psychologically, it is damaging for an individual to feel they do not belong and are in the outside group at work, which might similarly reflect the lowest form of inclusion (see Shore et al, 2011). Indeed, Haar and Brougham (2022a) showed the importance of workplace inclusion by targeting cultural factors, which make minority employees feel valued and part of the in-group. Korte (2007) states that workplaces are "social entities generally comprised of various interacting groups" with work typically completed through groups or teams, and importantly, "within this collection of groups known as an organization, individuals develop and sustain multiple, socially-derived identities" (p. 167).…”