The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Employee Motivation and Employee Job Performance: a Cross Cultural Study

Abstract

This research was a cross-cultural study where we explored the impact of ethical leadership on employee job performance. We evaluate the direct relationship and the indirect relationship whereby employee motivation was used as a mediating construct. The aim was to determine if group differences existed between the two groups of the study: US participants and Nigerian participants. Three research questions guided this study: Is there a direct relationship between ethical leadership and employee job performance? What impact does employee motivation have on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee job performance? Does the relationship differ across cultural boundaries? Path analysis and multi-group analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Our results showed that there was a statistically significant direct relationship between ethical leadership and employee job performance for the combined group and the Nigerian group. However, the direct relationship was not significant for the US group. Further, the results showed that employee motivation mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employee job performance for the combined group, the US group, and the Nigerian group. Our results were consistent with the results from other researchers who showed that cultural norms have a significant impact on employee job performance, and the type of leadership style implemented that may promote high employee job performance with one culture may have negative impact with another.