Cherng G. Ding
Kai Wen Lo
Kai Wen Lo, Institute of Business and Management, National Chiao Tung University, 118 Chung-Hsiao West Road, Section 1, Taipei, Taiwan. Email: kevinlo093@gmail.com
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between ethical leadership and multidimensional organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), specifically organization-targeted OCBs (OCBO) and individual-targeted OCBs (OCBI). In addition, the study examined the multiple mediating effects of self-efficacy, respect, and leader-member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBO, as well as the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBI. Through the application of a hierarchical linear model, an analysis of the results from 656 dyadic supervisor-subordinate data from 145 business units in Taiwan showed that both respect and LMX significantly mediated the ethical leadership-OCBO and -OCBI relationships. The implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are also discussed.
Keywords ethical leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, self-efficacy, respect, leader-member exchange
Executive commitment to ethics has important consequences for ethics governance in companies and managers should take their role seriously. (Weaver, Trevino, & Cochran, 1999, p. 55).
“Ethics is at the heart of leadership” (Ciulla, 2004, p. 8), hence, leaders divorced from ethics may contribute to corporate collapse with inevitable and disastrous social consequences. Prior financial crises, as experienced by Enron (2001), WorldCom (2002), AIG (2005), and Lehman Brothers (2008), have repeatedly told us the truth. As a result, ethical leadership has been argued to be important for enterprises because of its effects on promoting enhanced positive attitudes and behaviors among members of an organization (Brown, Treviño, & Harrison, 2005; Piccolo, Greenbaum, Hartog, & Folger, 2010; Walumbwa et al., 2011). Although previous research has demonstrated a positive relationship between ethical leadership and various forms of OCBs (e.g.Kacmar, Bachrach, Harris, & Zivnuska, 2011; Mayer, Kuenzi, Greenbaum, Bardes, & Salvador, 2009), relatively few studies have tested how and why ethical leadership relates to organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), especially for multidimensional OCBs. We believe that an examination of this relationship could expand our understanding of ethical leadership in organizational contexts.
Leadership researchers have generally acknowledged several mechanisms between leader behaviors and follower outcomes either through a mediator (e.g., Kacmar, Andrews, Harris, & Tepper, 2013; Walumbwa & Schaubroeck, 2009) or through two mediators (e.g., Piccolo et al., 2010; Walumbwa & Schaubroeck, 2009). Rare empirical studies examine multiple mediating effects on the relationship between ethical leadership and multidimensional OCBs, even though multiple simultaneous mediators are needed to compare potentially competing mechanisms in one model (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). We have responded to the view that examining multiple mediators within the same study allows scholars to clarify the relative importance of each mediator (Walumbwa et al., 2011).
The group engagement perspective (Tyler & Blader, 2003), which assumes that employees may assess their leader’s quality of treatment and quality of decision making, thereby influencing their discretionary cooperative behaviors (e.g., OCB) through the feedback they perceive from their leader, is used to explain how ethical leadership is related to multidimensional OCBs through multiple mediators. Although respect perceived by employees played an important role in the relationships between employees and their organization (Tyler, 1999; Tyler & Lind, 1992), little attention has been paid to examine the role of mediation on the link between ethical leadership and OCBs. Therefore, we contribute to the literature on ethical leadership by adding perceived respect to the integrated model. In addition to perceived respect, other assessments from employees may mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and employee outcomes, such as self-efficacy (Walumbwa et al., 2011), which is related to self-capability assessment (Bandura, 1986), and leader-member exchange (LMX) (Hansen, Alge, Brown, Jackson, & Dunford, 2013; Walumbwa et al., 2011), which is associated with dyadic relationship assessment between a leader and his/her member (Graen & Scandura, 1987). Consequently, respect, self-efficacy, and leader-member exchange (LMX) were included as the mediators in this study.
In light of the above, our research purpose is to build a model that examines not only the links between ethical leadership and multidimensional OCBs, but also the mechanisms that we believe help account for the links. Our central argument is that ethical leaders motivate employees’ citizenship behaviors towards their organization and individuals within the organization. This relationship works simultaneously by enhancing employee self-efficacy, expressing autonomous respect to employees, and maintaining high-quality LMX that enforces the connections of dyadic relationship with each promoting self-capacity assessment, intragroup status evaluation, and connections of dyadic relationships, respectively.
Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development
OCBs have been defined in various ways throughout literature (e.g.,Borman & Motowidlo, 1993; Organ, 1997). However, the central nature of OCBs involves the idea that OCBs are employee beneficial behaviors that are vital to facilitate organizational functioning (Lee & Allen, 2002; Organ, 1997). Examples of OCBs include helping coworkers, volunteering, keeping up with the affairs of an organization and conveying a positive image of an organization to outsiders (e.g., Lee & Allen, 2002; Williams & Anderson, 1991). Thus, OCBs seem to have different targeted dimensions. Smith, Organ, and Near (1983) found at least two major dimensions of OCBs: altruism, which refers to aiding specific persons (e.g., helping others who have been absent), and generalized compliance, which refers to a more impersonal style of conscientiousness in relation to an organization rather than being directed at specific persons (e.g., attendance at work that is above the norm). A number of studies have found that OCBs differentiate two specific constructs based on two targets: (a) individual-targeted citizenship behavior (OCBI, such as taking time to listen to coworkers’ problems and worries) and (b) organization-targeted citizenship behavior (OCBO, such as giving advanced notice when unable to come to work) (e.g.,Lee & Allen, 2002; Williams & Anderson, 1991).OCBs may be affected by employees’ perceptions of OCB meanings (Jiao, Richards, & Zhang, 2011) and OCB roles (Tepper, Lockhart, & Hoobler, 2001). Effective leaders may promote their followers’ OCBO or OCBI by respectively enhancing the extent to which they believe that OCB contributes to organization-targeted or to individual-targeted effectiveness (Jiao et al., 2011). These findings implied that leaders may affect the conception and comprehension of their members who tend to exhibit citizenship behaviors, thereby promoting their OCBO or OCBI. In addition, employees who perceive their jobs broadly or view OCB outcomes as valued outputs are more likely to engage in interpersonal helping (e.g., voluntarily helping newer coworkers settle into a job) and to take charge (e.g., attempting to bring about improved procedures for a work unit or department) (e.g., attempting to bring about improved procedures for a work unit or department; McAllister, Kamdar, Morrison, & Turban, 2007), similar to OCBI and OCBO, respectively.
Generally, OCBs may be motivated not only through employees’ perceptions of OCBs valued outcomes, but also through employees’ perceptions of their leaders’ behaviors. Thus, we propose that ethical leaders motivate employee OCBs directed towards individuals and organizations through their moral behaviors and effective managerial skills. Figure 1 summarizes the relationships tested in this study.
Figure 1. Hypothesized relationships.
Note. OCBO=organizational-targeted citizenship behavior; OCBI=individual-targeted citizenship behavior; LMX=leader–member exchange.
Ethical Leadership and Multidimensional OCBs
Ethical leadership is normatively associated with the attributes of OCB. Brown et al. (2005) defined 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”(p.120). This definition conceptualizes the dimension of ethical leadership as consisting of two types of characteristics: (a) personal moral characteristics (e.g., trustworthiness, fairness, self-control, caring about others’ interests) and (b) moral managerial skills (e.g., listening, combined use of rewards and punishments, valuing collective ethics; Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, & Kuenzi, 2012). Ethical leaders may intend to be role models and make use of normative management to guide their followers in the right direction based on moral and ethical motivations even without formal requirements or enforcements from an organization.According to social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), a group helps its members to define who they are and to evaluate their status. This process includes two parts: (a) social categorization, which involves the creation of categories to define their own group and construction of their self-image; and (b) the linkage of self-esteem and self-worth into group memberships (Tyler & Blader, 2002, 2003). In line with social identity theory, the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003) argues that discretionary cooperative behaviors originating from the individual, such as OCBs, are motivated by members’ desires to maintain and enhance their social identities from the feedback they receive from their own group. The underlying motivational mechanisms include identification with the group (the degree of merger of self and group) and status judgments (the degree to which the group builds positive identity implications for the self). From the group engagement perspective, a leader plays a critical role in facilitating his/her members’ OCBs because the quality of interpersonal treatment and the decision-making process are among the central antecedents of their perceptions of social identities. Thus, an ethical leader, who has the best interests of employees in mind, makes fair and balanced decisions and emphasizes the question “what is the right thing to do?” (Brown et al., 2005). This leadership style encourages the transfer of messages to his/her members to show that they are fairly treated as valued members. In turn, such messages are likely to have a positive impact on the members’ sense of merging his/herself with the group and of status judgment within the group, thereby motivating them to perform cooperative behaviors targeted to their group and to their coworkers.
The group engagement model assumes that identification with the group and status evaluation are connected to members’ sense of self-esteem (Tyler & Blader, 2003), which is described as self-evaluation based on a sense of one’s moral worth and a positive self-concept that most people have the motivation to create and maintain (Gecas, 1982). Thus, employees may perform virtuous works, such as OCBO and OCBI, to build their self-esteem, and in turn identify with their group. In addition, because of his/her role being generally viewed as a representative of the organization (Schein, 1992) and normatively related attributes of OCB, an ethical leader tends to effectively induce the desire of members to pursue a morally collective cause (e.g., promoting an organization, contributing more, or keeping up with developments in an organization). Thus, when employees perceive increased citizenship behavior from their authorities, which is an attractive identification that can maintain their self-concept, they may tend to engage in OCBO and OCBI (Evans & Davis, 2014). We therefore hypothesize as follows:
Hypothesis 1. Ethical leadership is positively related to OCBO (H1a) and OCBI (H1b).
Ethical Leadership, Self-Efficacy, and Multidimensional OCBs
Self-efficacy, defined as one’s belief in his/her capability to succeed in specific situations (e.g., a goal, task, or challenge; Bandura, 1986), is a kind of self-esteem based on a sense of competence (Gecas, 1982). Self-esteem and identity, two aspects of the self-concept, are closely interrelated based on experiences. Identity deals with evaluation of the self to social systems, while self-esteem focuses on the evaluation dimension of the self-concept (Gecas, 1982). Evidence provides support for the group engagement model by showing that social identity is connected to the senses of self-esteem (e.g., Tyler & Blader, 2000). Thus, from the group engagement perspective, an ethical leader may be inclined to use high-quality interpersonal treatment and fair decision-making processes to put the best interests of employees in mind (Brown et al., 2005). This may enhance his/her members’ evaluation of self-concept, increase their sense of competence, and help build their perceptions of identity and status judgment within the group.Additionally, social learning theory suggests that learning can occur in different ways, such as through vicarious experience (e.g., learning from the behaviors of some model persons) and verbal persuasion by others (e.g., being encouraged to achieve a certain behavior), and then enhance the extent of one’s belief in one’s own ability to accomplish goals, thereby improving self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1986). An ethical leader may not only become a target of emulation in terms of how to do things by proactively creating a fair work environment (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008; Eisenbeiss, 2012), but may also use two-way communication, such as verbal persuasion, to clarify the focal points of task requirements and to effectively motivate through individualized consideration (Brown et al., 2005; Campbell-Sills, Barlow, Brown, & Hofmann, 2006). Thus, an ethical leader’s guiding behaviors are supposed to improve the ability of followers to finish their required tasks, thereby enhancing their perceptions of self-efficacy.
Empirical evidence also provides support for the above-mentioned arguments. For example, an ethical leader may demonstrate empowerment behaviors to his/her members (e.g., listening to their problems and concerns, looking out for their personal welfare, and involving them in decisions) and then provide techniques of efficacy information (Conger & Kanungo, 1988), while decreasing the perceived cost of leaving the organization (Den Hartog & De Hoogh, 2009), thereby enhancing their self-efficacy to face difficulties. Moreover, ethical leaders are likely to enhance autonomy, which motivates employees to try different approaches and to learn from their outcomes (Piccolo et al., 2010). This extends employees’ knowledge of their skills and tasks, thus, enhancing their confidence in their own capability to perform well on the job (Sousa, Coelho, & Guillamon-Saorin, 2012). As a result, we hypothesize as follows:
Hypothesis 2. Ethical leadership is positively related to employee perceptions of self-efficacy.
Bandura (1997) demonstrated that when a member has high levels of self-efficacy in the group in which he/she has invested much self-worth, there may be a positive correlation between self-esteem and self-efficacy. However, when there is little investment in self-worth, it is unlikely to have such associations (Bandura, 1997). Thus, based on the group engagement model, we propose that employees with high self-efficacy may invest in more self-worth, which builds a high level of self-esteem, in turn enhancing social identity and then performing OCBO and OCBI. Empirical research supports our argument in terms of the relationship between self-efficacy and OCBs. For example, Morrison and Phelps (1999) found that compared with employees with lower levels of self-efficacy, employees with higher levels of self-efficacy tend to have higher likelihoods of taking charge, and thus, may be more likely to attempt OCBO, such as bringing about improved procedures for an organization, developing new methods that are effective for a company, and making constructive suggestions for a work unit.
van Knippenberg, van Knippenberg, De Cremer, and Hogg (2004) proposed that a leader who can build his/her members’ self-efficacy may engender their collective identification, thus motivating them to achieve collective goals. The argument suggests that an ethical leader, who tends to enhance follower beliefs of self-efficacy (Walumbwa et al., 2011), is likely to promote his/her followers’ willingness to volunteer towards the organization’s collective goal, thus enhancing their OCBI and OCBO. Moreover, based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1986) , it is argued that employees may improve their beliefs of self-efficacy through learning from an ethical leader’s behavior and through encouragement from a leader. For example, an ethical leader tends to guide his/her followers not only with fairness and morality (such as engaging in virtuous behaviors that benefit other individuals rather than him/herself), but also by power sharing (e.g., communicating with his/her followers from organizational strategic perspectives; De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008). This in turn is likely to promote follower behaviors that contribute to other individuals (OCBI) and the organization (OCBO) through intrinsic motivational processes in which followers strengthen both self-efficacy and further work engagement (Salanova, Lorente, Chambel, & Martínez, 2011). Thus, we propose the following:
Hypothesis 3. Employee perceptions of self-efficacy mediate the ethical leadership-OCBO relationship (H3a) and the ethical leadership-OCBI relationship (H3b).
Ethical Leadership, Respect, and Multidimensional OCBs
Although respect is one of the important constructs related to people’s attitudes and behaviors (Tyler, 1999; Tyler & Lind, 1992), no research has studied its connection with ethical leadership. Following the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003), the present research defines respect as reflecting a member’s judgment of his/her status within the group. The theoretical perspective was developed to explain the effects of fair treatment, referring to the way members are influenced by the interpersonal quality of social interaction with particular authorities (e.g., managers, supervisors, and leaders). To explain these effects, the group engagement model assumes that members value membership in social groups. When authorities treat members in a procedurally fair way, such as through a fair and balanced process of decision making, members will engender a merging sense of self with a group that may induce positive feelings of self-worth and high self-esteem (Tyler & Blader, 2003), thereby generating a positive judgment of individual statuses within a group.Extending the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003), we argue that ethical leaders may use moral managerial skills that involve treating their followers fairly, thus inducing follower perceptions of respect received from their leader. Ethical leaders intend to perform consistently in terms of decision making and nonbiased treatment of others, which express their fairness orientation (Eisenbeiss, 2012). Employees may perceive this type of behavior of an ethical leader (Den Hartog & De Hoogh, 2009), which is positively related to employees’ feelings of security and engagement in interpersonal risk taking within the group (Walumbwa & Schaubroeck, 2009). Moreover, despite the fact that employee evaluations of their status within the group are influenced by different sources (e.g., coworkers, outside customers, group authorities, and organizational norms), their perceptions of status within a group are mainly influenced by group authorities, such as their direct supervisors and managerial leaders (Levinson, 1965; Tyler, 1999). Actions taken by a leader are normally viewed as the behavior of the organization (Levinson, 1965) and as highly salient indicators of organizational opinions (Tyler & Lind, 1992). As a result, an ethical leader, whose actions are intended to engage in fair and balanced decision making as a symbol of the organization (Brown et al., 2005), may encourage his/her followers to participate in decision making and to provide opportunities for growth, which enhance the followers’ perceptions of respect (Fuller et al., 2006). Therefore, we propose this hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4. Ethical leadership is positively related to employee perceptions of respect.
Recent theoretical research has demonstrated that an individual’s intragroup self-evaluation may affect his/her cognition regarding his/her group and then may induce behaviors that benefit his/her own organization. According to the group engagement model, one’s judgment of his/her intragroup status has a significant effect on the extent to which members are willing to act cooperatively within a group and invest more time and energy on the group (Blader & Tyler, 2009; Tyler & Blader, 2003). Based on this model, the more members perceive respect from their leader, the more inherent concern they have about their group’s welfare. As a result, they are intrinsically motivated to make efforts on behalf of their group’s interests and help their group by expressing organization-supportive behaviors, such as volunteering to help group members without being required to do so (OCBI) and doing things that help the organization without having to be asked (OCBO; Blader & Tyler, 2009). Empirical evidence has also shown that perceived respect affects the degree to which members perform in ways that enhance the benefits of an organization and the members in a group (e.g.,Tyler & Blader, 2002).
The group engagement model has also been developed to explain the relationship between the degree of fair treatment and members’ organization-supportive behaviors, in part due to whether members feel respected by their leaders within the group (Blader & Tyler, 2009; Tyler & Blader, 2003). As noted earlier, due to the fair orientation of ethical leaders, employees may perceive fair treatments of such leaders who make consistent decisions and treat them without bias (Den Hartog & De Hoogh, 2009; Eisenbeiss, 2012). Employees may then integrate their self-concept with the group to generate positive judgments of their status within the group, thus arousing perceptions of respect (Tyler & Blader, 2003). When employees feel respected by an ethical leader, they tend to engage in greater behavioral effort on behalf of their own group. One example of this includes volunteering to do things to help the organization and guiding new employees (Blader & Tyler, 2009), thereby exhibiting OCBO and OCBI. Empirical research has confirmed the mediating role of perceived respect between authority treatment and employee organization-supportive behaviors (e.g., Blader & Tyler, 2009; Huo, Binning, & Molina, 2010; Tyler & Blader, 2002) and OCB intentions towards members within a group (Sommer & Kulkarni, 2012). Thus, we propose the following:
Hypothesis 5. Employee perceptions of respect mediate the ethical leadership-OCBO relationship (H5a) and the ethical leadership-OCBI relationship (H5b).
Ethical Leadership, LMX, and Multidimensional OCBs
Graen and Scandura (1987) defined LMX as the quality of the leader-member exchange relationship. Leaders who have developed high-quality LMX with their members are characterized by high levels of mutual trust, respect, loyalty, and obligation among their relationship partners (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). As the group engagement model assumed that both the group and its authorities serve an important fuction to create and maintain members’ positive identity (Tyler & Blader, 2003), members may interact more frequently with their leader and recognize their leader’s fair treatment and fair reward. This may cause them to be more willing to form and maintain a high LMX quality with their leader (Burton, Sablynski, & Sekiguchi, 2008a). Accordingly, high-quality LMX may develop increasingly through the interaction between an ethical leader and his/her group members.Based on the role theory (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964), Graen and colleagues assumed that work roles, which are defined by successive exchanges wherein a leader assigns tasks and then followers execute them, develop through informal negotiations between the leader and his/her followers. High-quality relationships increasingly develop as the role expectations of the two parties converge and assigned tasks are completed (Graen & Scandura, 1987; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). Thus, the behavior of a leader is likely to affect the degree of a follower’s role clarifications, thereby determining the development of LMX (Sears & Hackett, 2011). In addition, the power sharing behaviors of ethical leaders, including involving subordinates in decision making, allowing them a voice, and providing them individualized support (Den Hartog & De Hoogh, 2009), may be of benefit to the development of LMX quality (Bauer & Green, 1996). Hence, we propose:
Hypothesis 6. Ethical leadership is positively related to employee perceptions of LMX.
According to the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003), discretionary helping behavior is related to members’ desire to maintain and enhance their social identities through their status within a group. Employees treated fairly by their supervisor may form a sense of their own worth within the group and then intend to maintain a high-quality LMX with their leader (Burton et al., 2008a), thus, feeling obliged to reciprocate by performing citizenship behaviors targeted either towards the supervisor or towards coworkers within the organization (Blau, 1964). Once high-quality LMX develops, OCBI represents feedback through which a subordinate delivers outcomes that benefit his/her supervisor (Wayne & Green, 1993). Subordinates with high LMX may intend to offer indirect benefits to a supervisor, thereby enhancing OCBO because a leader is generally viewed as a representative of an organization (Schein, 1992).
Based on emergent norms of reciprocity, social exchange theory suggests that exchange can be viewed dyadically or systematically, and it can also support individualistic or collectivist goals (Cole, Schaninger, & Harris, 2002). Once employees are treated in a fair, interpersonal way, they will generate high-quality LMX, thereby intending to present OCBs (Burton, Sablynski, & Sekiguchi, 2008b). Accordingly, employees who perceive themselves to be in such reciprocal relationships due to fair, caring, and trustworthy treatment from their ethical leaders (Campbell-Sills et al., 2006) intend to present citizenship behaviors either towards an organization or toward interpersonal networks, including their supervisor. Therefore, we assert that LMX has a mediating effect whereby ethical leadership affects OCBO and OCBI.
Hypothesis 7. Employee perceptions of LMX mediate the ethical leadership OCBO relationship (H7a) and the ethical leadership OCBI relationship (H7b).
Methods
Participants and Procedure
We collected data from 171 units in 90 organizations in Taiwan, including technology, insurance, construction, journalism, education, retailing, manufacturing, tourism, and food service industries. A contact person was identified by the researchers within each organization. The contact person was asked to hand-deliver survey packets to a supervisor in each department. Within each survey packet, there were six envelopes of two colors: one brown envelope and five white ones. The brown envelope contained a supervisor version of the questionnaire, and each white envelope contained an employee version of the questionnaire.Each brown envelope was coded with a researcher-assigned identification number from 1 to 300, and each white envelope was coded with a number from 1 to 5 and with the corresponding identification number on the top. The supervisor questionnaire and the employee questionnaire could be matched dyadically according to the specific ID number. In addition, a cover letter explained the importance and procedure of the research, stressed the confidential and voluntary nature of participation, and informed participants that only group data would be reported to the organization. Finally, supervisor participants were asked to volunteer one to five subordinates, to give each of them a white envelope, and to remember the number on the envelope to match it with the specific subordinate. As each envelope was postpaid, each participant sealed and returned their envelope directly to the researchers when he/she finished answering the questionnaire. We provided our contact information in case there were any questions from the participants.
Subordinate participants completed measures of ethical leadership, LMX, respect, self-efficacy, procedural fairness, and personal information including gender, age, education, job tenure, and working tenure with their supervisors. Supervisor participants completed both OCBO and OCBI measures for their subordinate participants as well as personal information, such as organization name, age, education, job tenure, and working tenure in their present position.
We received 742 employee responses out of 1500 questionnaires (employee response rate = 49.5 percent) and 161 supervisor responses out of 300 questionnaires (supervisor response rate = 53.7 percent). A total of 171 units (out of 300) were responded to, for a total response rate of 57 percent, but 11 units were excluded due to incomplete supervisor data. Finally, the remaining 160 units included 94 units that returned the questionnaires of five subordinates and of one supervisor who rated these five subordinates; 33 that returned questionnaires of four subordinates and of one supervisor who rated these four subordinates; 18 that returned questionnaires of three subordinates and of one supervisor who rated these three subordinates; 11 that returned questionnaires of two subordinates and of one supervisor who rated these two subordinates; and four that returned questionnaires of only one subordinate and of one supervisor who rated this subordinate. As three responses are sufficient to aggregate measures to the group level (Richardson & Vandenberg, 2005; Tracey & Tews, 2005), we reserved the data of three to five dyadic respondents. The final data set comprised 656 complete dyadic questionnaires in 145 units.
The average employee age was 31.6 years old (SD = 4.9) with an average organizational tenure of 3.3 years (SD = 3.4), average department tenure of 2.5 years (SD = 2.6), and average tenure of working with the supervisor of 2.1 years (SD = 2.3). Of all the employees, 47 percent were women and at least 62 percent had the equivalent of a US community college degree. In addition, the average supervisor age was 38.6 years old (SD = 5.7), with an average organizational tenure of 7.8 years (SD = 4.1) and average department tenure of 4.0 years (SD = 3.8). Of all the supervisors, 33 percent were women and at least 72 percent had the equivalent of a US community college degree.
Measures
The English questionnaires were translated to Chinese, following the conventional back translation method (Brislin, 1980). A bilingual researcher translated the original scales into Chinese. Without access to the original scales, a separate bilingual researcher translated the scales of the Chinese version back to English and commented on whether any item was ambiguous. Finally, two native Chinese speakers were asked to pretest the Chinese version of the scales and found no major problems in understanding the items. All scales were anchored on a five-point scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree.Ethical leadership was measured using the 10-item Ethical Leadership Scale developed by Brown et al. (2005). Self-efficacy was measured with a three-item scale from Spreitzer (1995). Respect was measured with the six-item Autonomous Respect Scale from Tyler and Blader (2002). LMX was measured with the LMX-7 scale developed by Scandura and Graen (1984). OCBO and OCBI were measured with the 16-item OCB scale of Lee and Allen (2002), consisting of two eight-item subscales for both OCBO and OCBI. Finally, because previous research has shown that procedural fairness and gender have significant relationships with OCBs (Kacmar et al., 2011; Kidder, 2002; Walumbwa, Wu, & Orwa, 2008), we controlled for these two variables to partial out their effects on OCBs. Procedural fairness was measured with the seven-item scale developed by Colquitt (2001). A preliminary assessment with a sample size of 30 revealed acceptable reliabilities (the coefficient alphas for ethical leadership, self-efficacy, respect, LMX, OCBO, OCBI, and procedural fairness were .715, .796, .866, .914, .853, .762, and .832, respectively). The items of all scales used are provided in Table 1.
Table 1. Factor Loadings Resulting from the Seven-Factor CFA Model.
| Constructs/Items | Standardized loading | t-value | α/CR |
| Ethical leadership | .91/.91 | ||
| 1. My manager listens to what employees have to say | .68*** | 30.52 | |
| 2. My manager disciplines employees who violate ethical standards | .43*** | 12.72 | |
| 3. My manager conducts his/her personal life in an ethical manner | .63*** | 25.47 | |
| 4. My manager has the best interests of employees in mind | .78*** | 45.35 | |
| 5. My manager makes fair and balanced decisions | .79*** | 47.36 | |
| 6. My manager can be trusted | .82*** | 57.20 | |
| 7. My manager discusses business ethics or values with employees | .68*** | 29.95 | |
| 8. My manager sets an example of how to do things the right way in terms of ethics | .77*** | 43.13 | |
| 9. My manager defines success not just by results but also the way that they are obtained | .65*** | 26.55 | |
| 10.When making decisions, my manager asks “what is the right thing to do?” | .73*** | 36.85 | |
| Self–efficacy | .84/.84 | ||
| 1. I am confident about my ability to do my job | .81*** | 42.62 | |
| 2. I am self–assured about my capabilities to perform my work activities | .83*** | 44.85 | |
| 3. I have mastered the skills necessary for my job | .78*** | 38.65 | |
| Respect | .92/.92 | ||
| 1. My manager respects the work I do, | .77*** | 44.48 | |
| 2. My manager respects my work–related ideas, | .80*** | 50.29 | |
| 3. My manager values what I contribute at work | .83*** | 61.48 | |
| 4. My manager approves of how I do my job | .75*** | 40.03 | |
| 5. My manager appreciates my unique contributions on the job | .83*** | 59.60 | |
| 6. My manager values me as a member of my work group. | .83*** | 60.24 | |
| Leader–member exchange | .91/.91 | ||
| 1. I usually know where I stand with my manager. | .68*** | 30.81 | |
| 2. My manager has enough confidence in me that he/she would defend and justify my decisions if I was not present to do so. | .80*** | 51.33 | |
| 3. My working relationship with my manager is effective. | .82*** | 56.87 | |
| 4. My manager understands my problems and needs. | .82*** | 58.57 | |
| 5. I can count on my manager to "bail me out," even at his or her own expense, when I really need it. | .81*** | 54.92 | |
| 6. My manager recognizes my potential. | .77*** | 44.52 | |
| 7. Regardless of how much power my manager has built into his or her position, my manager would be personally inclined to use his/her power to help me solve problems in my work. | .72*** | 35.72 | |
| Procedural fairness | .93/.93 | ||
| 1. I have been able to express my views and feelings during those procedures | .73*** | 36.77 | |
| 2. I had influence over the (outcome) arrived at by those procedures | .76*** | 42.27 | |
| 3. Those procedures have been applied consistently. | .84*** | 65.45 | |
| 4. Those procedures have been free of bias | .80*** | 50.53 | |
| 5. Those procedures have been based on accurate information | .85*** | 67.99 | |
| 6. I have been able to appeal the (outcome) arrived at by those procedures | .82*** | 56.57 | |
| 7. Those procedures have upheld ethical and moral standards | .82*** | 56.04 | |
| Organizational–targeted citizenship behavior (OCBO) | .90/.90 | ||
| 1. The subordinate helps others who have been absent. | .73*** | 35.08 | |
| 2. The subordinate willingly gives his/her time to help others who have work–related problems. | .76*** | 39.73 | |
| 3. The subordinate adjusts his/her work schedule to accommodate other employees’ requests for time off. | .73*** | 35.79 | |
| 4. The subordinate goes out of the way to make newer employees feel welcome in the work group. | .70*** | 31.75 | |
| 5. The subordinate shows genuine concern and courtesy toward coworkers, even under the most trying business or personal situations. | .73*** | 35.07 | |
| 6. The subordinate gives up time to help others who have work or non–work problems. | .75*** | 37.85 | |
| 7. The subordinate assists others with their duties. | .72*** | 34.21 | |
| 8. The subordinate shares personal property with others to help their work. | .65*** | 26.50 | |
| Individual–targeted citizenship behavior (OCBI) | .90/.90 | ||
| 1. The subordinate attends functions that are not required but that help the organizational image. | .63*** | 24.58 | |
| 2. The subordinate keeps up with developments in the organization. | .68*** | 29.09 | |
| 3. The subordinate defends the organization when other employees criticize it. | .73*** | 36.25 | |
| 4. The subordinate shows pride when representing the organization in public. | .72*** | 34.68 | |
| 5. The subordinate offers ideas to improve the functioning of the organization. | .69*** | 30.09 | |
| 6. The subordinate expresses loyalty toward the organization. | .75*** | 39.20 | |
| 7. The subordinate takes action to protect the organization from potential problems. | .79*** | 46.37 | |
| 8. The subordinate demonstrates concern about the image of the organization. | .77*** | 42.19 |
Note. N = 656. α=Coefficient alpha; CR=Composite reliability.
*** p < .001 (two–tailed tests).
Common Method Variance (CMV)
Several procedural steps were adopted to mitigate the possibility of common method variance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, & Podsakoff, 2012). First, all scales used in the study were successfully pretested. We provided examples when we thought that the concepts in our items were vague, and we attempted to keep the questions as specific, simple, and concise as possible. Second, to enhance the motivation of respondents to answer the questionnaires accurately, we provided an explanation in the cover letter about the importance and usefulness of the questions for the respondents and the organization. Finally, we assured respondents of the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses.
To examine the CMV problem, we first compared two models to detect the existence of CMV. The first is the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model for the seven constructs without a latent method factor. The second is the CFA model for the seven constructs with a latent method factor (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The results indicated that the fit for the first model (χ2 = 2733.23; df = 1106; CFI = .9224; NFI = .8765; NNFI = .9175; RMSEA = .0475; SRMSR = .0371) was worse than the fit for the latter (χ2 = 2397.26; df = 1057; CFI = .9361; NFI = .8917; NNFI = .9289; RMSEA = .0440; SRMSR = .0327) as the chi-square difference test was significant (Δχ2(Δdf) = 335.97(49), p < .0001). As CMV is significant, whether it will bias the estimates of trait loadings and construct correlations needs to be investigated. We conducted the restricted CFA to test for common method bias in parameter estimates (Williams, Gavin, & Williams, 1996). We fitted the third CFA model, with a latent method factor by placing the restriction that trait loadings and trait correlations were fixed as the values resulting from those obtained from the CFA without a latent method factor. The third model, referred to as the restricted CFA model (χ2 = 2410.85; df = 1127), was then compared with the second model, referred to as the unrestricted CFA model. As the difference of the chi-square fit statistics between the restricted and the unrestricted models was non-significant (Δχ2(Δdf) = 13.593(70), p > .9), CMV does not cause a significant bias. Therefore, the risk of CMV does not appear to be a considerable threat.
Results
Confirmatory Factor Analyses
Before testing the hypotheses, we performed a CFA to assess convergent validity, discriminant validity, and the comparison of seven-factor model with alternative models. Convergent validity was first evaluated by reviewing the t-tests for factor loadings in a measurement model with CFA (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). As reported in Table 1, because the t-tests were significant (t-values > 10), then convergent validity was supported. Coefficient alphas (α) and composite reliabilities for the constructs are at least .84, and they demonstrate satisfactory reliability. In addition, to evaluate discriminant validity, we used two approaches. First, whether the squared correlations among constructs were relatively smaller than the average variances extracted was examined (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). As shown in Table 2, the squared correlation for any pair of constructs was smaller than the corresponding average variances extracted. Second, whether the confidence interval for a pairwise construct correlation includes 1.0 (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988) was examined. The results (Table 2) showed that none of the 95% confidence intervals for pairwise correlations included 1.0. Therefore, these results show that discriminant validity was supported.Finally, the seven-factor model (ethical leadership, self-efficacy, LMX, respect, OCBO, OCBI, and procedural fairness) was examined and was compared with a series of alternative nested models (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988), in which the constructs with high correlations were combined. As shown in Table 3, the CFA results indicate that the seven-factor model exhibited the best fit (χ2 = 2733; df = 1106; CFI = .92; NFI = .88; NNFI = .92; RMSEA = .047; SRMR = .037), and the chi-square difference tests compared with other alternative models are all significant. The results have provided evidence of the distinctiveness of the seven-factor model.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Constructs.
| Constructs | Mean | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 1. Ethical leadership | 3.94 | .57 | .91 | ||||||
| 2. Self-efficacy | 4.03 | .57 | .44(.037) | .85 | |||||
| 3. Respect | 4.05 | .55 | .80(.018) | .50(.034) | .92 | ||||
| 4. LMX | 3.92 | .59 | .85(.015) | .51(.034) | .88(.013) | .91 | |||
| 5. Procedural Fairness | 3.68 | .63 | .71(.023) | .46(.036) | .69(.024) | .77(.020) | .93 | ||
| 6. OCBO | 3.78 | .53 | .34(.039) | .24(.043) | .37(.038) | .37(.038) | .28(.040) | .90 | |
| 7. OCBI | 3.97 | .52 | .34(.038) | .27(.042) | .40(.037) | .40(.037) | .36(.038) | .73(.023) | .90 |
Note. N = 656. LMX=leader-member exchange; OCBO=organizational-targeted citizenship behavior; OCBI=individual- targeted citizenship behavior. Constructs 1-5 were measured by subordinates and constructs 6 and 7 were measured by supervisors. Values on the diagonal are the variance extracted estimates. Values in the parentheses are standard errors.
Table 3. Measurement Model Comparisons.
| Models | χ2(df) | Δχ2(Δdf) | CFI | NFI | NNFI | RMSEA | SRMR |
| 7-factor model (EL, SE, RESP, LMX, PF, OCBO and OCBI) | 2733(1106) | - | .92 | .88 | .92 | .047 | .037 |
| 6-factor model (combining OCBO and OCBI) | 3343(1112) | 610(6) *** | .89 | .85 | .89 | .055 | .042 |
| 6-factor model (combining EL and SE) | 3420(1112) | 687(6) *** | .89 | .85 | .88 | .056 | .047 |
| 6-factor model (combining EL and RESP) | 3300(1112) | 567(6) *** | .89 | .85 | .89 | .055 | .042 |
| 6-factor model (combining EL and LMX) | 3167(1112) | 434(6) *** | .90 | .86 | .90 | .053 | .041 |
| 5-factor model (combining OCBO and OCBI, and combining RESP and LMX) | 3631(1117) | 898(11) *** | .88 | .84 | .87 | .059 | .043 |
| 4-factor model (combining OCBO and OCBI, and combining SE, RESP, and LMX) | 4241(1121) | 1508(15) *** | .85 | .81 | .84 | .065 | .049 |
| 3-factor model (combining OCBO and OCBI, and combining EL, SE, RESP, and LMX) | 4787(1124) | 2054(18) *** | .83 | .78 | .82 | .071 | .053 |
| 2-factor model (combining OCBO and OCBI, and combining EL, SE, RESP, LMX, and PF) | 5916(1126) | 3183(20) *** | .77 | .73 | .76 | .081 | .058 |
| 1-factor model (combining all variables) | 9471(1127) | 6738(21) *** | .60 | .57 | .58 | .106 | .120 |
Note. EL=Ethical leadership; SE=self-efficacy; RESP=respect; LMX=leader-member exchange; PF=procedural fairness; OCBO=organizational-targeted citizenship behavior; OCBI=individual-targeted citizenship behavior; CFI = comparative fit index; NFI = normed fit index; NNFI= non-normed fit index; RMSEA = root-mean-square error approximation; SRMS= standardized root mean square residual.
***p < .001 (two-tailed tests).
Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) and Aggregation of Ethical Leadership
The data for the present study are hierarchical in nature because employees were nested within supervisors (each supervisor rated about three to five of his/her direct report OCBs). Therefore, hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the hypotheses. In addition, because of “shared unit properties” that describe the “collective, consensual aspect[s] of the unit as a whole” (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000, p. 30), ethical leadership is a group-level construct and aggregation is needed (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008). Before proceeding with aggregation, we needed to examine the within-group agreement of ethical leadership according to the within-group inter-rater agreement index (rwg (j)) (James, Demaree, & Wolf, 1993) and intraclass correlation coefficients: ICC (1) and ICC (2) (Bliese, 2000; Bliese & Halverson, 1998). First, the value of rwg (j) was .96, which is above the critical value that is .70 as suggested by George (1990). Second, the results of the aggregation of ethical leadership indicate that the value of ICC (1) was .17, which is above the threshold value of .12 (Bliese & Halverson, 1998; James et al., 1993) and thus, sufficient for group-aggregated measures. Finally, the value of ICC (2) was .49, lower than the cut-off range that is between .60 and .70 (Bliese, Halverson, & Schriesheim, 2002). Overall, such value of ICC (2) can be considered acceptable given that only three to five subordinates rated their managers because the ICC (2) index is dependent on the number of raters per group (Bliese, 2000), and because it is not unusual to have lower ICC (2) values in studies with small team sizes (Walumbwa et al., 2011). Taken together, these results provide support for aggregation at the group level of ethical leadership. Thus, average scores were used in further analyses.Results of Hierarchical Linear Model
Hypotheses 1, 2, 4, and 6 predicted that ethical leadership would be positively related to OCBO, OCBI, self-efficacy, respect, and LMX, respectively. HLM results in Table 4 show that ethical leadership is significantly related to both OCBO (= .511, p < .001, Model 1) and OCBI (= .381, p < .001, Model 2), controlling for procedural fairness and gender. These results provide support for H1a and H1b. Similarly, as shown in Table 4, HLM results also revealed that ethical leadership is significantly related to employee perception of self-efficacy (= .240, p < .01, Model 3), respect (= .382, p < .001, Model 4), and LMX (= .393, p < .001, Model 5), controlling for procedural fairness and gender. These results provide support for Hypotheses 2, 4, and 6, respectively.Hypotheses 3, 5, and 7 suggested that self-efficacy, respect, or LMX have mediating effects on ethical leadership OCBO and OCBI relationships. We followed the four-step mediated procedure proposed by Kenny, Kashy, and Bolger (1998). In step 1, ethical leadership needs to be significantly related to OCBO and OCBI. As reported in Table 4, this requirement was supported by the HLM results of Hypothesis 1a (see Model 1) and Hypothesis 1b above (see Model 2). Step 2 requires ethical leadership to be related with employee perceptions of self-efficacy, respect, and LMX. The results of Table 4 show that this requirement was supported by the HLM results of Hypothesis 2 (see Model 3), Hypothesis 4 (see Model 4), and Hypothesis 6 above (see Model 5). The second requirement was therefore met. In step 3, ethical leadership, self-efficacy, respect, and LMX need to be positively related to OCBO and OCBI. The results in Table 4 show that respect (= .141, p < .01, Model 6) and LMX (= .115, p < .05, Model 6) are significantly and positively related to OCBO, whereas respect (= .121, p < .05, Model 7) and LMX (= .166, p < .01, Model 7) are significantly and positively related to OCBI. This requirement was supported by the HLM results above. Finally, step 4 examined whether the significant ethical leadership-OCBO or ethical leadership-OCBI relationships in Step 1 is reduced (partial mediation) or eliminated (complete mediation) when self-efficacy, respect, and LMX are controlled simultaneously. As reported in Table 4, respect and LMX have partial mediation when the effects of ethical leadership on OCBO and OCBI are not zero.
In addition, bootstrapping (e.g., Preacher & Hayes, 2004, 2008) was used to test for the indirect effects of ethical leadership on OCBs through self-efficacy, respect, and LMX. By using sampling with replacement, a sample size of 656 was taken from the dataset, and the path coefficients were then obtained with HLM. We repeated the procedure 2000 times. Under a desired nominal type I error rate a, the lower and upper 100(a/2) percentage points of the distribution based on the 2000 estimates for each indirect effect (the product of two path coefficients) are used to form a 100(1-a)% bootstrap confidence interval (CI) for the indirect effect. If the test for the indirect effect is one-sided, as in this study claiming that the effect is in the predicted direction, then a 100(1-2a)% CI for the effect at level a (see the website provided by Hayes: http://www.afhayes.com/macrofaq.html) must be built. The mediating effect is significant if the associated percentile CI does not include zero. As shown in Table 5, only respect and LMX are the mediators of the relationships between ethical leadership and OCBO/OCBI because the corresponding 90% CI (with a = .05 for the one-sided test) does not include zero. As the direct effects of ethical leadership on OCBO and OCBI are significant (.396 and .268, p < .001), the mediation through respect and LMX is partial. The results provide support for Hypotheses 5 and 7.
Table 4. HLM Results: Effects of Ethical Leadership on OCBO, OCBI, Self-Efficacy, Respect, and LMX
| OCBO (Model 1) | OCBI (Model 2) | Self-efficacy (Model 3) | Respect (Model 4) | LMX (Model 5) | OCBO (Model 6) | OCBI (Model 7) | |
| Intercept | 1.309(.34)*** | 2.054(.32)*** | 1.898(.26)*** | .800(.21)*** | .315(.19) | ||
| Procedural Fairness (Level 1 control) | .121(.025)*** | .109(.030)*** | .311(.035)*** | .479(.028)*** | .565(.028)*** | ||
| Gender (Level 1 control) | .005(.038) | .032(.039) | .075(.041) | –.022(.033) | –.038(.031) | ||
| Ethical leadership (Level 2) | .511(.090)*** | .381(.086)*** | .240(.072)** | .382(.058)*** | .393(.053)*** | ||
| R2 | .18*** | .12*** | .20*** | .46*** | .55*** | ||
| Intercept | 1.242(.33)*** | 1.805(.33)*** | |||||
| Procedural Fairness (Level 1 control) | –.024(.037) | –.057(.037) | |||||
| Gender (Level 1 control) | .012(.036) | .041(.037) | |||||
| Self-efficacy (Level 1) | .005(.033) | .038(.034) | |||||
| Respect (Level 1) | .141(.054)** | .121(.055)* | |||||
| LMX (Level 1) | .115(.050)* | .166(.057)** | |||||
| Ethical leadership (Level 2) | .396(.088)*** | .268(.085)** | |||||
| R2 | .21*** | .15*** |
Note. OCBO=organizational-targeted citizenship behavior; OCBI=individual-targeted citizenship behavior; LMX=leader–member exchange. With the exception of ethical leadership (Level 2; N=145), all other variables are Level 1 (N=656) and raw-metric. Values in parentheses are standard errors.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001 (two-tailed tests).
Table 5. Mediation of Self-Efficacy, Respect, and LMX on the Effect of Ethical Leadership on OCBO and OCBI.
OCBO
|
OCBI
| ||||||
| Mediators | Indirect effect | 90% Percentile CI | Indirect effect | 90% Percentile CI | |||
| Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | ||||
| Self-Efficacy | –.002 | –.0197 | .0133 | –.004 | –.0231 | .0129 | |
| Respect | .044 | .0072 | .0852 | .051 | .0096 | .0940 | |
| LMX | .045 | .0092 | .0854 | .057 | .0142 | .1013 |
Note. OCBO=organizational-targeted citizenship behavior; OCBI=individual-targeted citizenship behavior; LMX=leader–member exchange. Results were obtained based on 2000 bootstrap samples.
Discussion
We have attempted to offer an extension of ethical leadership literature into OCB research, particularly for multidimensional OCBs. The results of the positive ethical leadership OCBO and OCBI relationships provide empirical support for the existence of the relationship. In addition to the connection between ethical leadership and performance (Walumbwa et al., 2011), the results suggest that ethical leaders may signal their subordinates to pursue a value cause (not limited to self-interest), thereby promoting OCBI. They may also induce the desire to reach a morally collective principle, thereby enhancing OCBO even without formal requirements or enforcements from an organization. Thus, ethical leadership, which is closely related to the nature of OCBs, may be linked to overall organizational effectiveness.In addition, we employed a multiple mediation method to delineate how the effects of ethical leadership are translated into OCBI and OCBO. Our findings show that the positive relationship between ethical leadership and both OCBO and OCBI is partially mediated by employee perceptions of respect and LMX. The results suggest that both employee evaluation of intragroup status and employee perception of the interpersonal relationship between leader and members may significantly affect managerial effectiveness. The result of the positive ethical leadership-respect relationship suggests that ethical leaders are fairness oriented (Den Hartog & De Hoogh, 2009; Eisenbeiss, 2012), thereby strengthening employee evaluation of intragroup status. The result of a positive ethical leadership-LMX relationship also provides support for the idea that an ethical leader intends to treat and reward his/her members fairly (Burton et al., 2008a), thereby promoting and maintaining their perceptions of LMX quality with him/her.
Finally, the partial mediating effect suggests that other mediators exist in addition to respect and LMX. Future research may consider other potential mediating mechanisms. For example, an ethical leader may motivate employees to engage in voluntarily helping by judging the types of behaviors that are ethically appropriate in the organization (Resick, Hargis, Shao, & Dust, 2013), through promoting the quality of their positive experience at work (Kalshoven & Boon, 2012) , and through reducing their self-serving activities within the group (Kacmar et al., 2011; Zhang, Walumbwa, Aryee, & Chen, 2013). After all, an ethical workplace is among the implicit expectations of employees (Kacmar et al., 2013).
Practical Implications
This study has several important implications for leaders. First, through the mediating effects of respect and LMX, our results suggest that before encouraging subordinate citizenship behaviors, leaders should not only express sufficient respect, but also develop good relationships with their subordinates. Once higher respect and better LMX are achieved, subordinates are likely to exert more effort, thereby enhancing their citizenship behaviors towards an organization and towards coworkers. The findings also suggest that the nature of ethical leadership is normatively appropriate and instrumental to an organization’s effectiveness. Thus, it is useful for organizations to encourage ethical behavior in all employees through performance evaluations or education mechanisms. Specifically, it is also useful for supervisors to improve subordinates’ self-efficacy, respect, and LMX when they lead and guide ethically. Finally, the research suggests that ethical leaders can evoke employee citizenship behaviors that benefit the organization and thus, coworkers. Through moral managerial skills and the representation of moral characteristics, the effectiveness of an organization will eventually be improved due to employee behaviors that are beneficial to the organization and to individuals within the group.Limitations and Future Research
The present study should also be viewed in light of its limitations. First, some data were collected from the same source such that CMV may be an issue. However, we have demonstrated that it is not a serious problem in the current study. Potential rating biases may be lessened by collecting data with different methods. For example, future research should strive to measure all constructs from different resources or in different time lags. Second, supervisors in this study may be biased in selecting subordinates with whom they have closer relationships, thereby resulting in the positive evaluation for LMX and respect. Such potential bias may be avoided through a random selection process. For example, future research should request participating companies to reach a contact person from their human resource department to randomly select three to five subordinates of each of the participating supervisors in the survey (e.g., Aryee, Walumbwa, Zhou, & Hartnell, 2012). Third, based on cross-sectional designs, we cannot make definitive inferences about causality. Future research may consider utilizing experimental designs in which data are collected at different points in time to examine causality between ethical leadership and OCBs. Finally, although we collected data from various industries in Taiwan, the study may be confined to what is considered a collectivist culture. To further establish generalizability, future researchers should investigate the relationships tested in this study on a broader sample drawn from multiple countries and cultures.Conclusion
The present study clarifies the importance of ethical leadership to organizational effectiveness by offering significant support for the hypothesized models. Important contributions ensure the positive effect of ethical leadership on multidimensional OCB. Our findings also suggest that the mechanisms of intragroup status evaluation and the leader-member relationship are significantly related to the complicated ethical leadership of -OCBO and -OCBI relationships. We expect these findings to inspire further research into the underlying mechanisms of ethical leadership and extend our understanding of the effects of ethical leadership on multidimensional OCBs.References
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