Ethical Leadership and Multidimensional Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy, Respect, and Leader-Member Exchange

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 leadership-OCBI relationships. The implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are also discussed.