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Leaders’ Moral Competence and Employee Outcomes: The Effects of Psychological Empowerment and Person–Supervisor Fit

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Abstract

This study examined how leaders’ moral competence is linked to employees’ task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Based on a sample of 102 employee–supervisor pairs from seven organizations in South Korea, the results of this study revealed that leaders’ moral competence was positively associated with employees’ task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors toward leaders (OCBS). As expected, employees’ psychological empowerment partially mediated the relationship between leaders’ moral competence and employees’ task performance and OCBS. Furthermore, person–supervisor fit (PS fit) moderated the relationship between leaders’ moral competence and employees’ psychological empowerment such that the relationships became stronger for individuals higher rather than lower in PS fit.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from China Europe International Business School. We thank Robert Liden and Jonathan Kwok for their initial support on earlier versions.

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  1. Management Department, China Europe International Business School, 699 Hongfeng Road, Pudong, Shanghai, 201206, People’s Republic of China

    Tae-Yeol Kim

  2. School of Business, Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, Korea

    Minsoo Kim

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Correspondence to Tae-Yeol Kim.

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Kim, TY., Kim, M. Leaders’ Moral Competence and Employee Outcomes: The Effects of Psychological Empowerment and Person–Supervisor Fit. J Bus Ethics 112, 155–166 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1238-1

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