Ethical leadership in project-based organizations of Pakistan: the role of psychological empowerment and Islamic work ethics

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and project success directly and indirectly through psychological empowerment along with the moderating role of Islamic work ethic. Design/methodology/approach Using a time-lagged design, data were gathered from 202 employees working in project-based organizations of Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the distinctiveness of variables used in the study. Findings Consistent with the cognitive evaluation theory, the findings supported the hypotheses other than the moderating role of Islamic work ethics between psychological empowerment and project success. The results confirmed that ethical leadership promotes project success directly and indirectly via psychological empowerment. Furthermore, theoretical and practical implications are also discussed highlighting the importance of ethical leadership for researchers and practitioners. Originality/value Literature is insufficient on the topic of ethical leadership in the project management domain with the effect of Islamic work ethics and psychological empowerment. Therefore, the current study explored unanswered research questions in the project management domain.

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

“…In this regard, Gyamerah et al (2022) found that benevolent leadership combined with psychological empowerment can enhance employees' creativity and their intention to stay. Mubarak et al (2022) also examined the role of ethical leadership in project management and found that ethical leadership promotes project success directly and along with psychological empowerment as well. Therefore, in the present study, it is assumed that psychological empowerment as a comprehensive intrinsic motivational mechanism can moderate the effects of ethical leadership on employee success.…”

Enhancing employee wellbeing by ethical leadership in the construction industry: The role of perceived organizational support

“…Expressly, ethical leadership indirectly improves employee wellbeing through POS. Previous studies demonstrated that leaders exert authority or control over their work or project schedules to motivate employees in the workplace (22,51,52). Contrarily, we argue that ethical leadership is process-oriented rather than outcome-oriented.…”

Distributed team cognition and collaborative problem-solving in project management

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“…In this context, the affective component of the project team, in addition to the resilience capacity of the project TMs, mediates the cognitive component (Pavez et al, 2021). According to Mubarak et al (2021) there is a direct relationship between ethical management and team integration and empowerment based on social learning. The study by Flavian et al (2019) linked empathy and perceived justice in the manager as antecedents to TB and trust, in turn, is an antecedent to team engagement.…”