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Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture

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Abstract

Leadership which lacks ethical conduct can be dangerous, destructive, and even toxic. Ethical leadership, though well discussed in the literature, has been tested empirically as a construct in very few studies. An empirical investigation of ethical leadership in Singapore’s construction industry is reported. It is found that ethical leadership is positively and significantly associated with transformational leadership, transformational culture of organization, contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership, leader effectiveness, employee willingness to put in extra effort, and employee satisfaction with the leader. However, it is also found that ethical leadership bears no correlations with transactional leadership. Also, it is negatively correlated with laissez-faire leadership and transactional culture of the organization. The findings also reveal that ethical leadership plays a mediating role in the relationship between employee outcomes and organizational culture. Practical implications of these findings are discussed. Directions for future research are also suggested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of the Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor

  2. School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, Singapore, 117566, Singapore

    George Ofori

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  1. Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor
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  2. George Ofori
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Correspondence to Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor.

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Toor, SuR., Ofori, G. Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture. J Bus Ethics 90, 533–547 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0059-3

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