Ethical leadership and employee behavior. Scientometric analysis in scientific production

Abstract

This scientometric study seeks to analyze scientific articles on ethical business leadership from a social-scientific perspective, considering its relationship or influence with the different behaviors of workers. Using the VOSWiever program, an analysis is carried out on 1000 articles published in Web of Science (WoS) journals from 1987 to May 2023. The results show the five main contributing countries, these being: China, the United States, England, Canada, and Pakistan and the year 2022 will be the year of greatest scientific production. There are no records of studies in Latin America; however, scientific production is found in academic sites in Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina. Using the Laws of Lotka, Price, and the Bradford model, the most prolific authors and the productivity of countries and magazines are discovered. Using Zipf's law and the Hirsch index, the most frequent keywords and the best-known articles are revealed. The article has sought to contribute to the eighth goal of sustainable development (SDG), that is, with the study of ethical leaders who model behaviors that favor economic growth, work well-being, and sustainability of their organizations. For future research, it is suggested that specific effects produced by this leadership as a mediator related to job performance in Latin companies be examined.