The Mediating Role of Trust in the Effect of Ethical Leadership on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors

This empirical study aims to analyze the effect of ethical leadership on employees’ citizenship behavior in organization, commitment, and job satisfaction by determining how the trust-based relationships within the organization are related to that effect. Data were gathered from 328 employees who are employed in various durable goods manufacturing companies in organized industrial region in Ankara/Turkey. The consequences of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that ethical leadership was related to trust both in leader and in organization. In accordance with the expectations, the results indicated that trust in leader partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership, organizational commitment, satisfaction from job, and organizational citizenship behavior. On the other hand, trust in organization partially mediated the relationship between citizenship behavior in organization, commitment and ethical leadership. Contrary to the expectations, it was observed that the relationship between ethical leadership and satisfaction from job was not mediated by trust in organization.

PDF

___

Akker, L. V., Heres, L., Lasthuizen, K., Six, F. E., (2009). “Ethical Leadership and Ttrust: It’s All About Meeting Expectations”, International Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 102-122.

Anderson, J. C, Gerbing, D. W., (1988). “Structural Equation Modeling in Practice: A Review and Recommended Two-step Approach”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103, No. 3, 411-423.

Aryee, S., Budhwar, P. S., Chen, Z. X. (2002). “Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship between Organizational Justice and Work Outcomes: Test of a Social Exchange Model”, Journal of organizational Behavior, Vol. 23, No. 3, 267-285.

Baltacı, A., (2011). Amaca Yönelik Pazarlama Çabalarının Tüketicilerin Margarin Markası Seçimine Etkisi ve Ankara İli Keçiören İlçesi Süpermarketlerinde Yapılan Uygulama, Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Eskişehir.

Brien, A., (1998). “Professional Ethics and the Culture of Trust”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 17, No. 4, 391-409.

Brown, M. E., (2007). “Misconceptions of Ethical Leadership: How to Avoid Potential Pitfalls”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 36, No. 2, 140-155.

Brown, M. E, Treviño, L. K., (2006). “Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 6, 595-616.

Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K, Harrison, D. A., (2005). “Ethical Leadership: A Social Learning Perspective for Construct Development and Testing”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 97, No.2, 117-134.

Caldwell, C., (2004a). Organizational Trustworthiness: A Developmental Model, Pullman, Washington State University.

Caldwell, C., Hayes, L. A., Bernal, P, Karri, R., (2008). “Ethical Stewardship– Implications for Leadership and Trust”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 78, No. 1-2, 153-164.

Caldwell, C. M., (2004b). Leadership Skills for Managers, Amacom, New York.

Cammann, C., Fichman, M., Jenkins, D, Klesh, J., (1979). “The Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire”, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Cammann, C., Fichman, M., Jenkins, D, Klesh, J., (1983). “Assessing the Attitudes and Perceptions of Organizational Members”, In S. E. Seashore, E. E. Lawler, P. H. Mirvis and C. Cammann (Eds.), Assessing Organizational Change: A Guide to Methods, Measures, and Practices: pp. 71-138, John Wiley, New York.

Carnevale, D. G., (1995). Trustworthy Government: Leadership and Management Strategies for Building Trust and High Performance, Jossey-Bass, New Jersey.

Chen, C. H. V., Wang, S. J., Chang, W. C., Hu, C. S. (2008). “The Effect of Leader- Member Exchange, Trust, Supervisor Support on Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Nurses”, Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 16, No. 4, 321-328.

Clapp-Smith, R., Vogelgesang, G. R., Avey, J. B. (2009). “Authentic Leadership and Positive Psychological Capital: The Mediating Role of Trust at the Group Level of Analysis”, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 15, No.3, 227- 240.

Corbetta, G, Salvato, C., (2004). “Self-‐serving or Self-‐actualizing? Models of Man and Agency Costs in Different Types of Family Firms: A Commentary on Comparing the Agency Costs of Family and Non-‐Family Firms: Conceptual Issues and Exploratory Evidence”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 28, No. 4, 355-362.

Dailey, R. C, Kirk, D. J., (1992). “Distributive and Procedural Justice as Antecedents of Job Dissatisfaction and Intent to Turnover”, Human Relations, Vol. 45, No.3, 305-317.

DeWitt, T., Nguyen, D. T., Marshall, R. (2008). “Exploring Customer Loyalty Following Service Recovery: The Mediating Effects of Trust and Emotions”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 10, No.3, 269-281.

Dirks, K. T, Ferrin, D. L., (2002). “Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87, No. 4, 611-628.

Ertürk, A. (2007). “Increasing Organizational Citizenship Behaviors of Turkish Academicians: Mediating Role of Trust in Supervisor on the Relationship between Organizational Justice and Citizenship Behaviors” Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 22, No. 3, 257-270.

Field, A. P., (2000). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: Advanced Techniques for the Beginner, Sage Publications, London.

Gambetta, D., (1988). Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Gelb, D. S, Strawser, J. A., (2001). “Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Disclosures: An Alternative Explanation for Increased Disclosure”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 33, No. 1, 1-13.

George, B., (2003). Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Gilstrap, J. B., Collins, B. J. (2012). “The Importance of Being Trustworthy: Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship between Leader Behaviors and Employee Job Satisfaction”, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, 152-163.

Gini, A., (2004). “Business, Ethics, and Leadership in a Post Enron Era”, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 9-15.

Golden, T. D, Veiga, J. F., (2008). “The Impact of Superior–subordinate Relationships on the Commitment, Job satisfaction, and Performance of Virtual Workers”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 1, 77-88.

Goodwin, V. L., Whittington, J. L., Murray, B., Nichols, T. (2011). “Moderator or Mediator? Examining the Role of Trust in the Transformational Leadership Paradigm”, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 23, No. 4, 409-425.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J, Anderson, R. E., (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis: A Global Perspective, Pearson Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River.

Havel, M. J., (2008). “A Study of the Relationship between Codes of Ethics and The Perception of Employee Integrity in Not-for-profit Organizations”, Capella University, Minneapolis.

Hosmer, L. T., (1995). “Trust: The Connecting Link between Organizational Theory and Philosophical Ethics”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, 379-403.

Joseph, E. E, Winston, B. E., (2005). “A Correlation of Servant Leadership, Leader Trust, and Organizational Trust”. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, 6-22.

Jung, D. I, Avolio, B. J., (2000). “Opening the Black Box: An Experimental Investigation of the Mediating Effects of Trust and Value Congruence on Transformational and Transactional Leadership”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 21, No. 8, 949-964.

Jurkiewicz, C. L, Giacalone, R. A., (2004). “A Values Framework for Measuring the Impact of Workplace Spirituality on Organizational Performance”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 49, No. 2, 129-142.

Kelloway, E. K., Loughlin, C., Barling, J, Nault, A., (2002). “Self-‐reported Counterproductive Behaviors and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Separate but Related Constructs”, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, Vol. 10, No. 1-‐2, 143-151.

Klenke, K., (2005). “Corporate Values as Multi-level, Multi-domain Antecedents of Leader Behaviors”, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 26, No.1, 50-66.

Koh, H. C., Boo, E. H. Y., (2001). “The Link between Organizational Ethics and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Managers in Singapore”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 29, No. 4, 309-324.

Leana, C. R., Van Buren, H. J., (1999). “Organizational Social Capital and Employment Practices”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24, No. 3, 538-555.

Lee, M. R., (2009). “E-ethical Leadership for Virtual Project Teams”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 27, No. 5, 456-463.

Lu, X., (2014). “Ethical Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Roles of Cognitive and Affective Trust”, Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, Vol. 42, No. 3, 379-389.

Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R., Bardes, M, Salvador, R. B., (2009). “How Low Does Ethical Leadership Flow? Test of a Trickle-down Model”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 108, No. 1, 1-13.

Mayer, R. C, Davis, J. H., (1999). “The Effect of the Performance Appraisal System on Trust for Management: A Field Quasi-experiment”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 84, No. 1, 123-136.

Mize, K. J., Stanforth, N, Johnson, C., (2000). “Perceptions of Retail Supervisors’ Ethical Behavior and Front-line Managers’ Organizational Commitment”, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2, 100-110.

Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W, Steers, R. M., (1982). Employee—Organization Linkages: The Psychology of Commitment, Absenteeism, and Turnover, Academic Press, New York.

Neubert, M. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Roberts, J. A, Chonko, L. B., (2009). “The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the field”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 90, No. 2, 157-170.

Newman, A., Kiazad, K., Miao, Q., Cooper, B., (2013). “Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship between Ethical Leadership and Organizational Citizenship”, In Academy of Management Proceedings, Vol. 2013, No. 1.

Nyhan, R. C, Marlowe, H. A., (1997). “Development and Psychometric Properties of the Organizational Trust Inventory”, Evaluation Review, Vol. 21, No. 5, 614-635.

Palupi, D. A. P., Cahjono, M. P., Satyawati, E. (2017). “Effect of Leadership on the Job Satisfaction with Organizational Commitment and Trust in Leader as Mediators” Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol. 6, No. 4, 400-408.

Perry, R. W., Mankin, L. D. (2007). “Organizational Trust, Trust in the Chief Executive and Work Satisfaction”, Public Personnel Management, Vol. 36, No. 2, 165-179.

Ponnu, C. H, Tennakoon, G., (2009). “The Association between Ethical Leadership and Employee Outcomes-the Malaysian Case”, Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, 21-32.

Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Bommer, W.H. (1996). “Transformational Leadership Behaviours and Substitutes for Leadership as Determinants of Employee Satisfaction, Commitment, Trust, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors”, Journal of Management, Vol. 22, No.2, 259-298.

Quinlan, L. M., (2008). “Leader Personality Characteristics and Their Effects on Trust in the Organizational Setting”. Walden University, Minnesota.

Reave, L., (2005). “Spiritual Values and Practices Related to Leadership Effectiveness”, The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 5, 655-687.

Rezaei, M., Salehi, S., Shafiei, M., Sabet, S., (2012). “Servant leadership and organizational trust: The mediating effect of the leader trust and organizational communication”, EMAJ: Emerging Markets Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, 70-78.

Salas, S., (2009). “A Study of the Relationship between Employee Virtuality and Technology Deviance as Mediated by Leadership and Employee Perceptions”, Florida International University, Florida.

Sama, L. M, Shoaf, V., (2008). “Ethical Leadership for the Professions: Fostering a Moral Community”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 78, No. 1-2, 39-46.

Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C, Davis, J. H., (1996). “Empowerment in Veterinary Clinics: The Role of Trust in Delegation”, Paper presented at 11th Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

Shamir, B, Lapidot, Y., (2003). “Trust in Organizational Superiors: Systemic and Collective Considerations”, Organization Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, 463-491.

Shockley-Zalabak, P., Ellis, K, Cesaria, R., (2000a). “IABC Research Foundation unveils new study on trust”, Communication World, Vol. 17, No. 6, 7-9.

Shockley-Zalabak, P., Ellis, K, Winograd, G., (2000b). “Organizational Trust: What it means, Why it Matters”, Organization Development Journal, Vol. 18, No. 4, 35- 48.

Solomon, R. C, Flores, F., (2001). Building Trust: In Business, Politics, Relationships, and Life. Oxford University Press, New York.

Spence Laschinger, H. K., Finegan, J., Shamian, J. (2002). The Impact of Workplace Empowerment, Organizational Trust on Staff Nurses' Work Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment. In (Ed.) Advances in Health Care Management (pp. 59-85). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Sue-Chan, C., Au, A. K., Hackett, R. D. (2012). “Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship between Leader/member Behavior and Leader-member-exchange Quality”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 47, No. 3, 459-468.

Thoms, J. C., (2008). “Ethical Integrity in Leadership and Organizational Moral Culture”, Leadership, Vol. 4, No. 4, 419-442.

Tourigny, L., Han, J., Baba, V. V., Pan, P., (2017). “Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility in China: A Multilevel Study of Their Effects on Trust and Organizational Citizenship Behavior”, Journal of Business Ethics.

Treviño, L. K., Brown, M, Hartman, L. P., (2003). “A Qualitative Investigation of Perceived Executive Ethical Leadership: Perceptions from Inside and Outside the Executive Suite”, Human Relations, Vol. 56, No. 1, 5-37.

Treviño, L. K, Brown, M. E., (2005). “The Role of Leaders in Influencing Unethical Behavior in the Workplace”, In R. E. Kidwell and C. L. Martin (Eds.), Managing Organizational Deviance: pp. 69-96, Sage Publications, London.

Trevino, L. K., Hartman, L. P, Brown, M., (2000). “Moral Person and Moral Manager: How Executives Develop a Reputation for Ethical Leadership”, California Management Review, Vol. 42, No. 4, 128-142.

Ullman, J. B., (2006). “Structural Equation Modeling: Reviewing the Basics and Moving Forward”, Journal of Personality Assessment, Vol. 87, No. 1, 35-50.

Yanık, O., (2014). “Ahlaki Liderliğin Çalışanların İş Tatminine, Örgütsel Bağlılığına ve İşten Ayrılma Niyetine Etkisi: Örgütsel Güven ve Örgütsel Adalet Algısının Aracı Rolü”, Atatürk Üniversitesi, Erzurum.

Yeh, T.J., (2007). “Leadership Behavior, Organizational Trust, and Organizational Commitment among Volunteers in Taiwanese Non-profit Foundations”, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio.

Zhu, W., May, D. R, Avolio, B. J., (2004). “The Impact of Ethical Leadership Behavior on Employee Outcomes: The Roles of Psychological Empowerment and Authenticity”, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 16-26.