The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics

Abstract

SummaryIn the current study, we draw on the original job characteristics model (JCM) and on an elaborated model of work design to examine relationships between ethical leadership, task significance, job autonomy, effort, and job performance. We suggest that leaders with strong ethical commitments who regularly demonstrate ethically normative behavior can have an impact on the JCM elements of task significance and autonomy, thereby affecting an employee's motivation (willingness to exert effort), which in turn will be evidenced by indications of enhanced task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. We conducted a field study by surveying pairs of co-workers in a diverse set of organizations. Results provide support for a fully mediated model whereby task significance and effort fully mediate relationships between ethical leadership and subordinates' job performance. Implications for future research on job design are discussed.

Examining the Link Between Ethical Leadership and Employee Misconduct: The Mediating Role of Ethical Climate

“…Ethical leadership is defined as, ''the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through twoway communication, reinforcement, and decisionmaking'' (Brown et al, 2005, p. 120). Although this conceptualization of ethical leadership is new, a considerable amount of research on this topic is emerging (Brown et al, 2005;Piccolo et al, 2010;Walumbwa et al, in press;Walumbwa and Schaubroeck, 2009). For example, recent research has shown a negative relationship between ethical leadership and employee deviant behavior (Mayer et al 2009a, in press).…”

The Moral Entrepreneur: A New Component of Ethical Leadership

“…Brown et al's (2005, p. 120) definition of ethical leadership as ''the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making'' is widely accepted without much discussion. This definition is used in most ethical leadership studies (e.g., Avey et al 2011;Bedi et al 2016;Chughtai et al 2015;DeConinck 2015;Kalshoven et al 2011a, b;Mayer et al 2012;Mo and Shi 2017;Piccolo et al 2010;Rubin et al 2010;Walumbwa et al 2011;Walumbwa and Schaubroeck 2009). Only a few scholars, such as Eisenbeiß (2012) and Voegtlin et al (2012), have raised any criticism about it.…”

The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Organizational Learning: Evidence from a Petroleum Company

“…Our study contributes to the ethical leadership literature (Engelbrecht et al, 2017;Eisenbeiß & Brodbeck, 2014;Kacmar et al, 2016;Piccolo et al, 2010) and organizational learning literature (Chiva & Habib, 2015;Mason & Leek, 2008) by providing empirical evidence of the links between ethical leadership and organizational learning. Importantly, our study foregrounds the ways accountability and fairness aspects of ethical leadership can affect learning.…”

“…Mayer, Kuenzi, Greenbaum, Bardes and Salvador (2009) suggest that employees usually respond to fair decisions in positive ways including improved performance and productivity that may go beyond the usual performance expectations. Moreover, the fairness of ethical leaders is not limited to within the organizational boundaries; rather, they make decisions that are fair for the customers and society at large (Piccolo, Greenbaum, Hartog & Folger, 2010). Eisenbeiß and Brodbeck (2014) maintain that ethical leaders' decisions are equally fair to the followers, organizational employees, customers and other stakeholders including suppliers, politicians, society and trade unions.…”

“…Therefore, following social learning theory and the concept of ethical leaders as role models, we suggest that followers would learn and imitate these behaviors of their leaders. According to Piccolo et al (2010), fairness in dealing with organizational members promotes ethical practices in the organization and discourages unethical practices. Thus, we argue that ethical leadership can contribute to impede destructive practices such as unfair treatment of workers to penetrate the organizations.…”