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Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective

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Abstract

Although several studies explored the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction, little information is available on this relationship in the Chinese context. We propose that moral cognition is an essential process in the relationship between supervisor’s ethical leadership and employee subjective well-being. The present study, through the lens of the social cognitive theory, examined the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction, as well as the employee moral-cognitive processes between them. Based on 371 employees in a Chinese enterprise, the present study employed structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized research model. The results confirmed that supervisors’ ethical leadership was positively related to employee moral awareness, moral identity and job satisfaction, respectively. Moreover, employee moral awareness and moral identity partially mediated the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction. The theoretical and managerial implications were further discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71402127), 2014–2015 International Scholar Exchange Fellowship Program of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies and The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yidong Tu & Yue Yu

  2. School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing City, People’s Republic of China

    Xinxin Lu

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  1. Yidong Tu
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Correspondence to Xinxin Lu.

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Tu, Y., Lu, X. & Yu, Y. Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective. J Happiness Stud 18, 229–245 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9725-1

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