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How ethical leadership cultivates healthy guanxi to enhance OCB in China
Author(s) -
Ko Changsuk,
Ma Jianhong,
Kang Mingu,
English Alexander Scott,
Haney Mark H
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7941.12120
Subject(s) - guanxi , organizational citizenship behavior , ethical leadership , psychology , context (archaeology) , social psychology , china , public relations , business , business administration , organizational commitment , political science , law , paleontology , biology
Ethical leadership has been documented as a critical factor influencing employee behavior. This study aims to expand on previous research by investigating how ethical leadership cultivates healthy C hinese guanxi between employees and their supervisors and influences employee organizational citizenship behavior ( OCB ). We propose that two types of C hinese guanxi , favor‐seeking guanxi and rent‐seeking guanxi , may play a mediating role in the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB . Using survey data collected from C hinese employees (N = 502), regression and bootstrap analyses are used to test the proposed research model. The results suggest that ethical leadership not only directly promotes employee OCB performance, but also does so indirectly by facilitating favor‐seeking guanxi orientation and suppressing rent‐seeking guanxi orientation. The results provide a theoretical contribution to the study of ethical leadership and C hinese guanxi , and also extend our practical understanding of the role of ethical leadership in enhancing OCB effectively in the C hina context.