Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Moore School of Business
First Advisor
Andrew Spicer
Second Advisor
Soojin Lee
Abstract
The significance of ethical leadership has recently garnered considerable attention from both academia and practitioners. However, despite its reputation for facilitating ethical conduct and preventing unethical conduct, there are inconsistencies in the findings about its relationship with (un)ethical pro-organizational behaviors such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to delve deeply into the influence of ethical leadership on OCB and UPB. Through three interrelated papers, I seek insights into how ethical leadership can drive ethical pro-organizational behaviors that are compatible with broader societal norms. In Paper 1, while noting a significant parallel between the two contradictory outcomes, I investigate the qualities of ethical leadership that shape both OCB and UPB and propose the crucial role of ethical leadership in such behaviors that are at the intersection of societal and organizational norms. Paper 2 examines the simultaneous interaction between workplace uncertainty and employees’ need for status in the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB. The findings from a two-wave, dual-source study show that the influence of ethical leadership at Time 1 was weaker or even negative in promoting OCB at Time 2 for employees with (1) a low need for status in situations of low uncertainty or (2) a high need for status in situations of high uncertainty. Finally, Paper 3 tests how employees’ moral ideology and an instrumental climate moderate ethical leadership’s influence on OCB and UPB. A two-wave survey of 351 employees revealed that the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB is stronger for employees with high idealism, whereas that between ethical leadership and UPB is more positive for employees who perceive a high instrumental climate versus a low instrumental climate within their organizations. vii
Rights
© 2024, Jinhee Kim
Recommended Citation
Kim, J.(2024). Linking Ethical Leadership to Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7886