The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Subjective Wellbeing, Given the Moderator Job Satisfaction (A Case Study of Private Hospitals in Mashhad)

Abstract

Background: The emerging ethical leadership, a novel approach in leadership perspective, has provided the ground for building and promoting individual and organizational effectiveness through prioritizing ethics in organization. The purpose of the study is survey of effect of Ethical Leadership on Subjective Wellbeing, Given the Moderator Job Satisfaction in Private Hospitals in Mashhad Methods: This research, employing a descriptive-correlational survey design, was conducted in 2015-2016 to examine the probable effect of ethical leadership on subjective wellbeing and job satisfaction (both as the outcome variable and the mediator) among the nurses of private hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. The statistical population included all nurses of private hospitals in Mashhad city (730 nurses, in total) from among whom following a simple randomized method, 166 nurses were selected as a sample of respondents. The data were collected with the adapted version of the questionnaire designed by Yang (2014) the validity and reliability of which were tested and confirmed. For data analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. Results: The results indicated a positive significant relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction. Ethical leadership only indirectly and through job satisfaction positively and significantly affected the subjective wellbeing of nurses. Conclusions: This suggests that an emphasis on ethics and ethically-oriented leaders in hospitals, aided by job satisfaction, can provide a positive climate which can lead to the subjective wellbeing of nurses.