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A meta‐analytic test of the differential pathways linking ethical leadership to normative conduct
Author(s) -
Peng Ann C.,
Kim Dongkyu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.2427
Subject(s) - psychology , ethical leadership , transformational leadership , organizational citizenship behavior , social psychology , social exchange theory , mechanism (biology) , normative , job satisfaction , organizational commitment , test (biology) , structural equation modeling , organizational identification , meta analysis , epistemology , medicine , paleontology , biology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics
Summary We test how ethical leadership influences normatively (in)appropriate work behavior through distinct mediating pathways, including one's exchange relationship with the leader, ethical culture, and identification with the organization. Our study also controls for transformational leadership as a predictor and trust in leader as a nonhypothesized alternative mechanism. We test our hypotheses using meta‐analytic structural equation modeling based on our meta‐analysis of 301 independent samples ( N = 103,354) and relevant meta‐analytic correlations reported in previous research. Supporting our prediction, we found that leader–member exchange, which represents social exchange theory, was the most potent mechanism that accounts for the positive relationship between ethical leadership and task performance. In contrast, ethical culture, which assesses a social learning mechanism, is the strongest predictor of counterproductive behavior. In addition, all three hypothesized mediators each contribute to understanding the positive relationship between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior, although the indirect effect via organizational identification was the weakest. The findings hold after controlling for job satisfaction as another mediator parallel to the theoretical ones. Our results contribute to a precise theory about ethical leadership by differentiating the processes through which it affects employee behavior.