IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v123y2014i3p513-525.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture

Author

Listed:
  • Conna Yang

Abstract

Business ethics has been emphasized throughout the past decade and organizations are aware of the influence it has on the organization’s performance. As a result, ethical leadership is important as it influences the employees profoundly. This study aims to address this issue and explore the influence ethical leadership has on employees by examining job satisfaction, subjective well-being at work, and life satisfaction. Two groups of independent data were collected and a multi-group analysis was conducted before pooling together for a two-step structural equation modeling test. The results revealed that ethical leadership has a negative direct effect on employee well-being which offers significant findings for the meaning of ethical leadership in the Chinese culture. Useful managerial implications are provided for managers and supervisors at the end of this study. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Conna Yang, 2014. "Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 513-525, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:123:y:2014:i:3:p:513-525
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1852-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-013-1852-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-013-1852-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Jonge, Jan & Bosma, Hans & Peter, Richard & Siegrist, Johannes, 2000. "Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and employee well-being: a large-scale cross-sectional study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(9), pages 1317-1327, May.
    2. Schminke, Marshall & Ambrose, Maureen L. & Neubaum, Donald O., 2005. "The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 135-151, July.
    3. Olson, Eric M. & Slater, Stanley F. & Hult, G. Tomas M., 2005. "The importance of structure and process to strategy implementation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 47-54.
    4. Ed Diener & Robert Biswas-Diener, 2002. "Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 119-169, February.
    5. Kathryn Page & Dianne Vella-Brodrick, 2009. "The ‘What’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Employee Well-Being: A New Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 441-458, February.
    6. Charles Pettijohn & Linda Pettijohn & A. Taylor, 2008. "Salesperson Perceptions of Ethical Behaviors: Their Influence on Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(4), pages 547-557, April.
    7. Heidi Weltzien Hoivik, 2007. "East Meets West: Tacit Messages about Business Ethics in Stories Told by Chinese Managers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 457-469, September.
    8. Valentine, Sean & Greller, Martin M. & Richtermeyer, Sandra B., 2006. "Employee job response as a function of ethical context and perceived organization support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(5), pages 582-588, May.
    9. Christian Resick & Gillian Martin & Mary Keating & Marcus Dickson & Ho Kwan & Chunyan Peng, 2011. "What Ethical Leadership Means to Me: Asian, American, and European Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 435-457, July.
    10. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    11. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    12. Nancy Chen & Dean Tjosvold, 2007. "Guanxi and leader member relationships between American managers and Chinese employees: open-minded dialogue as mediator," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 171-189, June.
    13. Brown, Michael E. & Mitchell, Marie S., 2010. "Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 583-616, October.
    14. Walumbwa, Fred O. & Mayer, David M. & Wang, Peng & Wang, Hui & Workman, Kristina & Christensen, Amanda L., 2011. "Linking ethical leadership to employee performance: The roles of leader-member exchange, self-efficacy, and organizational identification," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 204-213, July.
    15. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    16. Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor & George Ofori, 2009. "Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 533-547, December.
    17. Mayer, David M. & Kuenzi, Maribeth & Greenbaum, Rebecca & Bardes, Mary & Salvador, Rommel (Bombie), 2009. "How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-13, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yi-Ching Hsieh & Hung-Chang Chiu & Yun-Chia Tang & Wei-Yun Lin, 2018. "Does Raising Value Co-creation Increase All Customers’ Happiness?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1053-1067, November.
    2. Misbah Hayat Bhatti & Umair Akram & Muhammad Hasnat Bhatti & Hassan Rasool & Xin Su, 2020. "Unraveling the Effects of Ethical Leadership on Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Subjective Well-Being and Social Media in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Fatima Afzal & Roksana Jahan Tumpa, 2024. "Exploring Leadership Styles to Foster Sustainability in Construction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-32, January.
    4. Tran Quang Bao Phuc & Khalida Parveen & Duyen Thi Truc Tran & Dao Thi Anh Nguyen, 2021. "The linkage between ethical leadership and lecturer job satisfaction at a private higher education institution in Vietnam," Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 39-50.
    5. N. A. Mozumder, 2018. "A Multilevel Trust-based Model of Ethical Public Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 167-184, November.
    6. Li Yuan & Robert Chia & Jonathan Gosling, 2023. "Confucian Virtue Ethics and Ethical Leadership in Modern China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 119-133, January.
    7. Catherine Viot & Laïla Benraiss-Noailles, 2019. "The Link Between Benevolence and Well-Being in the Context of Human-Resource Marketing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 883-896, October.
    8. Lantican, Carl Anthony O., 2020. "The Influence of Ethical Leadership on Employees’ Work-Related Stress and Organizational Commitment: Evidence from a Developing Country," Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development, Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development (JEMAD), vol. 6(1), June.
    9. Catherine Viot & Laïla Benraiss-Noailles, 2018. "The Link Between Benevolence and Well-Being in the Context of Human-Resource Marketing," Post-Print hal-01803653, HAL.
    10. Shuxia Zhang & Yidong Tu, 2018. "Cross-Domain Effects of Ethical Leadership on Employee Family and Life Satisfaction: the Moderating Role of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1085-1097, November.
    11. Mansi Jain & Gagan Deep Sharma & Mandeep Mahendru, 2019. "Can I Sustain My Happiness? A Review, Critique and Research Agenda for Economics of Happiness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-36, November.
    12. Vishag Badrinarayanan & Indu Ramachandran & Sreedhar Madhavaram, 2019. "Mirroring the Boss: Ethical Leadership, Emulation Intentions, and Salesperson Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 897-912, October.
    13. Raquel Ruiz-Rodríguez & Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, 2023. "Neuroleadership: a new way for happiness management," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Yau-De Wang & Conna Yang, 2016. "How Appealing are Monetary Rewards in the Workplace? A Study of Ethical Leadership, Love of Money, Happiness, and Turnover Intention," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1277-1290, December.
    15. Afif G. Nassif & Rick D. Hackett & Gordon Wang, 2021. "Ethical, Virtuous, and Charismatic Leadership: An Examination of Differential Relationships with Follower and Leader Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 581-603, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muel Kaptein, 2019. "The Moral Entrepreneur: A New Component of Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1135-1150, June.
    2. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Joan Fontrodona, 2013. "Ethical Culture and Employee Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Person-Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 173-188, August.
    3. Shenjiang Mo & Junqi Shi, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Burnout, Workplace Deviance and Performance: Testing the Mediating Roles of Trust in Leader and Surface Acting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 293-303, August.
    4. Angela J. Xu & Raymond Loi & Hang-yue Ngo, 2016. "Ethical Leadership Behavior and Employee Justice Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Trust in Organization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 493-504, March.
    5. Julena M. Bonner & Rebecca L. Greenbaum & David M. Mayer, 2016. "My Boss is Morally Disengaged: The Role of Ethical Leadership in Explaining the Interactive Effect of Supervisor and Employee Moral Disengagement on Employee Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(4), pages 731-742, September.
    6. Q. Miao & A. Newman & J. Yu & L. Xu, 2013. "The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 641-653, September.
    7. Aamir Chughtai & Marann Byrne & Barbara Flood, 2015. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Well-Being: The Role of Trust in Supervisor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 653-663, May.
    8. Cheteni, Priviledge & Shindika, Emmanuel, 2016. "Ethical Leadership in South Africa and Botswana," MPRA Paper 80968, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Mar 2017.
    9. Junghyun (Jessie) Lee & Jeewon Cho & Yoonjung Baek & Rajnandini Pillai & Se Hyung Oh, 2019. "Does ethical leadership predict follower outcomes above and beyond the full-range leadership model and authentic leadership?: An organizational commitment perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 821-847, September.
    10. K. Kacmar & Martha Andrews & Kenneth Harris & Bennett Tepper, 2013. "Ethical Leadership and Subordinate Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Organizational Politics and the Moderating Role of Political Skill," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 33-44, June.
    11. David Pastoriza & Miguel Ariño, 2013. "Does the Ethical Leadership of Supervisors Generate Internal Social Capital?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 1-12, November.
    12. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    13. Silke Eisenbeiss & Daan Knippenberg & Clemens Fahrbach, 2015. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Analyzing the Relationship Between CEO Ethical Leadership and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 635-651, May.
    14. Colina Frisch & Markus Huppenbauer, 2014. "New Insights into Ethical Leadership: A Qualitative Investigation of the Experiences of Executive Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 23-43, August.
    15. Robert Steinbauer & Robert Renn & Robert Taylor & Phil Njoroge, 2014. "Ethical Leadership and Followers’ Moral Judgment: The Role of Followers’ Perceived Accountability and Self-leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 381-392, March.
    16. Nida Kamal & Hina Samdani & Amna Yameen, 2018. "Engaging Employees through Ethical Leadership," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 300-316, September.
    17. Emmanuel Osafo & Amy Paros & Robert M. Yawson, 2021. "Valence–Instrumentality–Expectancy Model of Motivation as an Alternative Model for Examining Ethical Leadership Behaviors," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    18. Yuhyung Shin, 2012. "CEO Ethical Leadership, Ethical Climate, Climate Strength, and Collective Organizational Citizenship Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 299-312, July.
    19. Yi Liao & Xiao-Yu Liu & Ho Kwan & Jinsong Li, 2015. "Work–Family Effects of Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 535-545, May.
    20. Muhammad Asif & Miao Qing & Jinsoo Hwang & Hao Shi, 2019. "Ethical Leadership, Affective Commitment, Work Engagement, and Creativity: Testing a Multiple Mediation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:123:y:2014:i:3:p:513-525. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.