The Affective Processes of Ethical Leadership: The Role of Moral Emotions

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 196; no. 1; pp. 149 - 167
• Main Authors: Jeong, Sophia Soyoung, Sun, Cong (Timothy), Yam, Kai Chi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2025; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavior; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Citizenship; Education; Emotions; Employees; Ethics; Leadership; Management; Morality; Organizational citizenship behaviour; Original Paper; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Structural equation modeling; Supervisors; Workplaces; Appraisal theory of emotions; Moral emotions; Ethical leadership; Other-praising emotions
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05718-8

Building on appraisal theory of emotions and theories on moral emotions, we contend that ethical leadership triggers other-praising moral emotions directed at the supervisor and leads to feedback-seeking behavior. We further predict that the affective processes of ethical leadership have implications for workplace behaviors, namely organizational citizenship behavior directed at the supervisor and employee voice. We develop a new measure of supervisor-directed, other-praising moral emotions and test the validity of the measure. Then, we test and find support for the proposed hypotheses using a sample of 231 full-time employees in China with a time-lagged survey design and structural equation modeling. Theoretical and practical implications for ethical leadership and moral emotions are discussed.