Previous studies have used social learning theory to explain the influence of ethical leadership. This study continues the previous research by using social learning theory to explain the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice. In addition, this study extends previous studies by introducing expectancy theory to explore whether self-impact also mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice. Ethical leadership, self-efficacy, self-impact, and employee voice were assessed using paired surveys among 59 supervisors and 295 subordinates employed at nine firms in the People's Republic of China. Using HLM and SEM analyses, the results revealed that ethical leadership was positively related to employee voice and that this relationship was partially mediated by both self-efficacy and self-impact.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonJ. C.GerbingD. W. (1988) Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423.
2.
AshforthB. E. (1989) The experience of powerlessness in organizations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 43(2), 207–242.
3.
AveryD. R.QuiñonesM. A. (2004) Individual differences and the voice effect. Group & Organization Management, 29(1), 106–124.
4.
AveyJ. B.PalanskiM. E.WalumbwaF. O. (2011) When leadership goes unnoticed: The moderating role of follower self-esteem on the relationship between ethical leadership and follower behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(4), 573–582.
5.
AveyJ. B.WernsingT. S.PalanskiM. E. (2012) Exploring the process of ethical leadership: The mediating role of employee voice and psychological ownership. Journal of Business Ethics, 107, 21–34.
6.
BanduraA. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.
7.
BanduraA. (1986) Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
8.
BlieseP. D. (2000) Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis. In KleinK. J.KozlowskiS. W. J. (Eds.), Multilevel theory, research and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions, and new directions. San Francisco, CA: lossey-Bass. Pp. 349–381.
9.
BrislinR. W. (1980) Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2(2), 349–444.
10.
BrownM. E.TreviñoL. K.HarrisonD. A. (2005) Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117–134.
11.
ChoiJ. N. (2007) Change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: Effects of work environment characteristics and intervening psychological processes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(4), 467–484.
12.
De HooghA. H. B.Den HartogD. N. (2008) Ethical and despotic leadership, relationships with leader's social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(3), 297–311.
13.
DetertJ. R.BurrisE. R. (2007) Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open?Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869–884.
14.
EdenD.AviramA. (1993) Self-efficacy training to speed reemployment: Helping people to help themselves. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 352–360.
15.
FarhJ. L.HackettR. D.LiangJ. (2007) Individual-level cultural values as moderators of perceived organizational support-employee outcome relationships in China: Comparing the effects of power distance and traditionalityThe Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 715–729.
16.
FreseM.TengE.WijnenC. (1999) Helping to improve suggestion systems: Predictors of making suggestions in companies. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(7), 1139–1150.
17.
FullerJ. B.MarlerL. E.HesterK. (2006) Promoting felt responsibility for constructive change and proactive behavior: Exploring aspects of an elaborated model of work design. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(8), 1089–1120.
18.
HansenS. D.AlgeB. J.BrownM. E.JacksonC. L.DunfordB. B. (2012) Ethical leadership: Assessing the value of a multifoci social exchange perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(3), 435–449.
19.
HsiungH. H. (2012) Authentic leadership and employee voice behavior: A multi-level psychological process. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(3), 349–361.
20.
JamesL. R.DemareeR. G.WolfG. (1984) Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 85–98.
21.
KalshovenK.Den HartogD. N.De HooghA. H. B. (2011) Ethical Leadership at Work Questionnaire (ELW): Development and validation of a multidimensional measure. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 51–69.
KennyD. A.KashyD. A.BolgerN. (1998) Data analysis in social psychology. In GilbertD.FiskeS.LindzeyG. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology. Vol. 1. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Pp. 233–265.
24.
KlaasB. S.Olson-BuchananJ. B.WardA. K. (2012) The determinants of alternative forms of workplace voice. Journal of Management, 38(1), 314–345.
25.
LandauJ. (2009) To speak or not to speak: Predictors of voice propensity. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 13(1), 35–54.
26.
LePineJ. A.Van DyneL. (1998) Predicting voice in work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 853–868.
27.
LiangJ.FarhC. I. C.FarhJ. L. (2012) Psychological antecedents of promotive and prohibitive voice: A two-wave examination. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 71–92.
28.
LiuY.LongW.LoiR. (2012) Ethical leadership and workplace deviance: The role of moral disengagement. Advances in Global Leadership, 7, 37–56.
29.
MaKinnonD. P.LockwoodC. M.HoffmanJ. M.WestS. G.SheetsV. (2002) A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7(1), 83–104.
30.
MayerD. M.AquinoK.GreenbaumR. L.KuenziM. (2012) Who displays ethical leadership, and why does it matter? An examination of antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 151–171.
31.
MayerD. M.KuenziM.GreenbaumR.BardesM.SalvadorR. B. (2009) How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108(1), 1–13.
32.
MayerD. M.KuenziM.GreenbaumR.BardesM.SalvadorR. B. (2010) Examining the link between ethical leadership and employee misconduct: The mediating role of ethical climate. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 7–16.
33.
MorrisonE. W.MillikenF. J. (2000) Organizational silence: A barrier to change and development in a pluralistic world. Academy of Management Review, 25, 706–725.
34.
MorrisonE. W.Wheeler-SmithS. L.KamdarD. (2011) Speaking up in groups: A cross-level study of group voice climate and voice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), 183–191.
35.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C. (2012) Employee voice behavior: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(2), 216–234.
36.
ShamirB.HouseR. J.ArthurM. B. (1993) The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A self-concept based theory. Organization Science, 4(4), 577–594.
37.
SobelM. E. (1982) Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. In LeinhardtS. (Ed.), Sociological methodology. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. Pp. 290–312.
38.
SpreitzerG. M. (1995) Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442–1465.
39.
TangiralaS.RamanujamR. (2008a) Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross-level effects of procedural justice climate. Personal Psychology, 61, 37–68.
40.
TangiralaS.RamanujamR. (2008b) Exploring nonlinearity in employee voice: The effect of personal control and organizational identification. Academy of Management journal, 51(6), 1189–1203.
41.
TangiralaS.RamanujamR. (2012) Ask and you shall hear (but not always): Examining the relationship between management consultation and employee voice. Personnel Psychology, 65(2), 251–282.
42.
Van DyneL.AngS.BoteroI. C. (2003) Conceptualizing employee silence and employee voice as multidimensional constructs. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1359–1392.
43.
VroomV. H. (1964) Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.
44.
WalumbwaF. O.MayerD. M.WangP.WangH.WorkmanK.ChristensenA. 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, 115(2), 204–213.
45.
WalumbwaF. O.MorrisonE. W.ChristensenA. L. (2012) Ethical leadership and group in-role performance: The mediating roles of group conscientiousness and group voice. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(5), 935–964.
46.
WalumbwaF. O.SchaubroeckJ. (2009) Leader personality traits and employee voice behavior: Mediating roles of ethical leadership and work group psychological safety. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1275.
47.
WalumbwaF. O.WangP.WangH.SchaubroeckJ.AvolioB. J. (2010) Psychological processes linking authentic leadership to follower behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(5), 901–914.
48.
ZhuW. (2008) The effect of ethical leadership on follower moral identity: The mediating role of psychological empowerment. Leadership Review, 8, 62–73.
49.
ZhuW.MayD. R.AvolioB. J. (2004) The impact of ethical leadership behavior on employee outcomes: The roles of psychological empowerment and authenticity. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 11(1), 16–26.
