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The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics
Author(s) -
Piccolo Ronald F.,
Greenbaum Rebecca,
Hartog Deanne N. den,
Folger Robert
Publication year - 2010
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.627
Subject(s) - autonomy , ethical leadership , normative , psychology , job design , task (project management) , organizational citizenship behavior , social psychology , set (abstract data type) , contextual performance , job performance , core (optical fiber) , job attitude , job satisfaction , organizational commitment , management , political science , computer science , telecommunications , economics , law , programming language
In 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. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.