Ethical leadership and its influence on employee voice behavior: role of demographic variables

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behavior. Study of employee voice behavior is important, because leaders in organizations make numerous decisions based on employees’ work-related inputs which do influence the decision quality and team performance. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected through structured questionnaire from Indian organizations. Data were analysed through statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings The findings showed that ethical leadership did impact the employee voice in a positive and significant but moderate manner. The study also found no significant differences in ethical leadership and voice behavior across demographic variables such as gender, age, educational qualification and job level in the Indian context. Research limitations/implications The study is conducted using single cross-sectional research design, and for better causal inferences of the relationship between various variables, future research studies may be conducted with longitudinal research design, multiple data sources and variety of industries with large sample size. Practical implications With erosion of ethical values and corporate scandals, managers need to develop and display ethical leadership as employees emulate their leaders’ ethical behavior because ethical leadership, or its perception, relates positively and significantly to employee voice behavior. Originality/value There is less study to understand ethical leadership and its influence on voice behavior in developing countries, especially in India. Ethical leadership behavior encourages employees to voice their work-related constructive opinions and concerns for improved decision-making and reduced unethical practices. Also, there is scarcity of research that explores the impact of demographic variables and this study is an effort to understand this gap.

Leadership integrity and employees’ success: role of ethical leadership, psychological capital, and psychological empowerment

“…Leaders are considered to be the main driving force of ethical behavior in organizations (Ye et al , 2022; Haldorai et al , 2020). Furthermore, the integrity of leader’s behavior, which is defined as employees’ perceptions of the overall integrity between leader behavior and supported values (Simons, 2002), can have important individual and organizational consequences such as an increase in extra-role behaviors, self-confidence and work success (Dua et al , 2022; Ullah et al , 2021). When a leader behaves in a way that is considered by the employees to be in line with the values supported, the integrity of the leader’s behavior is formed and recognized (Duan et al , 2020; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2020).…”

Effect of Ethical Leadership and Employee Voice on Happiness at the Workplace

“…Ethical leaders create a working environment in which employees are able to freely and comfortably share their opinions, suggestions, and concerns and encourage employee voice by giving them confidence (Çetin-Kılıç & Eser, 2022). Ethical leaders support employees in expressing their opinions, suggestions, and concerns to improve decision-making and organizational processes and reduce unethical practices (Dua et al, 2023). In summary, ethical leadership increases employee voice behavior and decreases employee silence.…”

International performance of Latin American companies: institutional and reputational perspectives

“…Considerable attention is required in the field to investigate empirically the impacts of institutions on IP (Soeng and Cuyvers, 2018), especially informal institutions which influence international business, but have received limited attention in the literature relative to formal institutions. Examining the relationships between formal and informal institutional factors and IP can help advance business research (Dua et al. , 2023).…”