Management Research Paper
hongniuzuhe
ethicalleadershipandjobperfoenmanceinChina.pdf
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2013), 86, 564–584
© 2013 The British Psychological Society
www.wileyonlinelibrary.com
Ethical leadership and job performance in China: The roles of workplace friendships and traditionality
Jun Liu 1 *, Ho Kwong Kwan
2 , Ping Ping Fu
3 and Yina Mao
4
1 Renmin University of China, Beijing, China 2 Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China 3 Chinese University of Hong Kong, China 4 Nanjing University, China
This study examined the relationships between ethical leadership, as perceived by
subordinates, and task performance as well as organizational citizenship behaviour
towards the organization (OCBO) and towards individuals (OCBI), while lending
consideration to the moderating roles of subordinates’ workplace friendships and
traditionality in China. The results, which were based on two-phase data from a sample of
312 supervisor–subordinate dyads in a manufacturing firm, indicated that ethical leadership positively related to subordinates’ OCBO and OCBI. Moreover, subordinates’
workplace friendships strengthened the relationship between ethical leadership and task
performance, whereas subordinates’ traditionality strengthened the relationships
between ethical leadership and task performance, OCBO, and OCBI. The theoretical
and managerial implications of these results were discussed.
Practitioner points
� Findings provide evidence that enhancing ethical leadership promotes subordinates’ OCBO and OCBI. � Encouraging employees to develop friendships can enhance the positive effects of ethical leadership on
task performance.
� Encouraging employees to hold traditional values can enhance the positive effects of ethical leadership on task performance, OCBO, and OCBI.
Guide them by edicts, and keep them in line with punishments, the common people will stay
outoftroublebutwillhavenosenseofshame;guidethembyvirtue,andkeeptheminlinewith
the rites, they will, besides having a sense of shame, reform themselves.
Confucius (551-479 BC)
Recent business scandals involving large corporations have greatly aroused public
concerns regarding unethical business conduct (MacDonald & Hughes, 2007). Such
scandals demonstrate that, if leaders engage in unethical behaviours, their company rules
and regulations – regardless of how well established – are not able to save the company from failing. Indeed, the number of studies on ethical leadership has increased sharply
in the past decade in both Western and Eastern countries (Resick et al., 2011).
*Correspondence should be addressed to Jun Liu, School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI:10.1111/joop.12027
564
Ethical leadership is defined as ‘the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct
through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such
conduct tofollowers through two-way communication,reinforcement, and decision-mak-
ing’ (Brown, Trevi~no, & Harrison, 2005, p. 120). From the perspective of social learning, ethical leadership offers followers ethical guidance and role modelling while inspiring
high moral practices (Brown et al., 2005). Ethical leadership has been found to bring
about various follower outcomes, including optimism (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008),
task significance, job autonomy and effort (Piccolo, Greenbaum, Den Hartog, & Folger,
2010), job involvement, affective commitment, interactional fairness, satisfaction with
leaders (Brown et al., 2005; Khuntia & Suar, 2004), self-efficacy, leader–member exchange, organizational identification, task performance (Walumbwa et al., 2011),
voice behaviour (Walumbwa & Schaubroeck, 2009), and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB; Mayer, Kuenzi, Greenbaum, Bardes, & Salvador, 2009).
Despite these encouraging findings, we know little about the boundary condition of
ethical leadership’s effects. The contingency perspective of leadership posits that
leadership is a social construct and cannot be fully understood when examined in isolation
from the context in which it takes place (Yukl, 2006). An ethical leader’s role is critical
only within a specific context, as pointed out by Brown and Trevi~no (2006); thus, a promising direction for future research is to examine how ethical leadership interacts
with other contextual variables in influencing follower outcomes. Along this line, the main purpose of this study is to identify the boundary conditions of ethical leadership’s
effects on followers’ task performance as well as OCB towards the organization (OCBO)
and towards individuals (OCBI). Task performance is the effectiveness with which
employees perform role-prescribed activities (Motowidlo, 2003), whereas OCB is an
extra-role behaviour that helps the organization or individuals promote their effectiveness
(Organ, 1988). We chose these three outcomes because they have been identified as
important components of employees’ job performance (Ng & Feldman, 2008).
Social learning theory suggests that individuals need resources to learn and exhibit their learned behaviour (Bandura, 1977, 1986). In other words, the availability of social
learning has a greater impact for individuals who have access to resources. Hence, we
identified workplace friendships as a moderator, examining the moderating effect of
workplace friendships on the relationship between ethical leadership and followers’ job
performance. As relationships involve voluntary interactions and interdependence, in
which organizational members regard one another personally as unique persons rather
than as mere role inhabitants (Wright, 1984), workplace friendships lead individuals to
acquire mutual benefits through various relationships within the organization (Tse, Dasborough, & Ashkanasy, 2008). Such benefits might create useful resources to facilitate
the social learning process, thereby strengthening the effectiveness of ethical leadership.
The emphasis of workplace friendships also echoes the call for attention to colleague
influence in ethical leadership research (Zhu, May, & Avolio, 2004).
Moreover, scholars have conducted a number of qualitative studies to understand
ethical leadership themes in different cultures (e.g., Resick et al., 2011), yet quantitative
research examining cultural factors has not kept the same pace. Cultural factors can lead
employees to be more or less sensitive to leadership perceptions (Fu, Wu, Yang, & Ye, 2007) and could thus have moderating effects on the relationship between ethical
leadership and its consequences. According to Brown and Trevi~no’s (2006) review of the ethical leadership literature, previous studies have mostly investigated US-based theories
using American samples, which might cause possibly ‘limited and erroneous explana-
tions’ (Tsui, 2009, p. 5) if applied to other cultural contexts.
Ethical leadership 565
In the current study, we propose that traditionality, which is defined as the degree
to which an individual upholds traditional values (Schwartz, 1992), plays an important
role in predicting how subordinates respond to their ethical leaders’ influences in
Chinese societies. Different nations have different understandings of traditionality; to the Chinese, traditional values include fatalism, familism, filial piety, ancestor worship,
male domination, and a general sense of powerlessness (Yang, Yu, & Yeh, 1991). We
chose to investigate traditionality for two reasons. First, past theoretical models and
empirical findings support the argument that traditionality is an important value to
provide a boundary condition for the impact of leadership in the Asian context (e.g.,
Liu, Kwan, Wu, & Wu, 2010; Shin & Zhou, 2003). Second, traditionality refers to an
individual-level value rooted in unique personal beliefs (Yang et al., 1991), which can
also echo the call for the consideration of individual characteristics (Brown & Trevi~no, 2006; Zhu et al., 2004).
The current article ultimately makes two major contributions. First, we consider a
contextual factor (i.e., workplace friendships) to investigate its moderating effect on the
ethical leadership–job performance relationship. Second, we explore the moderating influence of an individual factor (i.e., traditionality) on the primary relationship discussed
herein to extend the identification of cultural conditions for the effectiveness of ethical
leadership. To examine this model, we designed and performed a two-wave survey with
supervisor–subordinate dyads in China. Using the Chinese context, it also contributes to the literature in Confucian societies, such as might be found in other Asian nations
(e.g., Japan and Korea).
Theories and hypotheses
Ethical leadership and job performance
Leaders can influence subordinates’ attitudes, perceptions, behaviours, and responses to
the work environment (Yukl, 2006). We suggest that social learning theory can help
explain how leaders bring about such changes. Social learning theory asserts that people
learn various behaviours through attention to, observation of, and imitation of role
models (Bandura, 1977, 1986). By observing role models’ behaviours, individuals establish their schemas (i.e., mental knowledge structures), which direct their imitation of
such behaviours. Because of their honesty, accountability, fair treatment, consideration of
others, and proper manner and behaviour, ethical leaders are attractive, credible, and
legitimate, likely standing out in the organizational context (Brown et al., 2005).
Consequently, subordinates tend to identify their ethical leaders as role models and
emulate their behaviour. Social learning theory can be applied in ethical leadership
research in China because ethical leadership is rooted in Confucian philosophy in Chinese
societies, which emphasizes that leaders should be role models whose actions are imitated by subordinates (Cheng, Chou, & Farh, 2000).
Drawing on social learning theory, we identify four reasons to argue why perceived
ethical leadership leads to followers’ task performance, OCBO, and OCBI. First, ethical
leaders are accountable, which signals to followers the value and importance of assigned
tasks and OCB (Piccolo et al., 2010). Through social learning, followers enhance
accountability in their work by emulating the value and behaviour of their ethical role
models. Accountability has been found to promote performance-relevant consequences,
such as work motivation (Enzle & Anderson, 1993). Work motivation is reflected in work effort, such as employees working hard to complete an assigned task and expending their
resources on task performance (Piccolo et al., 2010). This argument suggests a positive
566 Jun Liu et al.
relationship between ethical leadership and task performance. Accountability has also
been found to facilitate employees’ favourable work behaviours (Schlenker, 1985).
Accountable employees are likely to exert work effort towards all behaviours that help
enhance their job performance beyond what is needed for task performance (Piccolo et al., 2010). When such employees are motivated to put effort beneficial to the
organization, we expect to find a positive relationship between ethical leadership and
OCBO. When employees are motivated to benefit other individuals, we expect ethical
leadership to be positively related to OCBI. A recent study also provided evidence that
accountability is indirectly linked to job performance (Hochwarter et al., 2007).
Second, organizational members heed behaviours that are rewarded and punished
(Trevi~no, 1992). Social learning theory contends that outcomes (i.e., rewards and punishments) assigned by role models promote learning in a predictable manner (Manz & Sims, 1981). Ethical leaders reward subordinates who follow ethical standards, but
discipline those who violate ethical standards, directing subordinates to understand the
benefits of appropriate behaviours as well as the costs of inappropriate behaviours
(Brown et al., 2005). Hence, subordinates who perceive ethical leadership are likely to
perform their job properly. One way to achieve good job performance is to complete
assigned tasks effectively. Therefore, we expect ethical leadership to be positively related
to task performance. Another way is for subordinates to engage in broad work roles,
including OCBO and OCBI, because OCB is often included in the assessment of job performance (Ng & Feldman, 2008). When employees define their work role as a helper
and contributor towards the organization, ethical leadership facilitates their OCBO. When
employees construe their role as good citizens to help others, ethical leadership spurs
their OCBI.
Third, ethical role models steer employees’ attention to ethical standards that provide
useful values, expectations, and guidelines that enable subordinates to handle cases
involving ethics (Grojean, Resick, Dickson, & Smith, 2004). Employees need to face
ever-changing job-related ethical issues that might raise concerns about handling job ethics, thereby focusing less attention and energy on performing tasks. Ethical standards
established by ethical role models can provide relatively clear standards for subordinates
to follow, which in turn decreases worries and concerns, saves time in solving ethical
issues, and channels energy into getting the assigned job done. Thus, ethical leadership
enhances follower task performance.In addition, spending less time and energy on ethical
issues may direct employees’ attention to the needs of the organization, thereby
enhancing OCBO. Further, when employees place great attention to the needs of other
colleagues, we expect that ethical leadership is positively associated with OCBI. Research has provided evidence that people not in a hurry are more likely to offer help than are
people in a hurry (Darley & Batson, 1973).
Finally, ethical leaders are perceived to be fair. Research demonstrates that fairness is
important to employees’ evaluations of authority (Alexander & Ruderman, 1987).
Working with ethical leaders, employees are likely to have confidence that the balance of
the job input and outcome can be guaranteed. Classical expectancy theory has long
argued that individuals would be most motivated when they are assured of the links
among efforts, performance, and rewards (Vroom, 1964). Thus, we propose that followers of an ethical leader will have high levels of task performance. Moreover, ethical
leadership should result in subordinates performing above and beyond the call of duty
because when employees are treated fairly, they are inclined to think about their
relationships with their organization in terms of social exchange (Brown et al., 2005).
This suggests that ethical leadership is positively associated with OCBO. Furthermore,
Ethical leadership 567
employees of an ethical leader would feel obligated to reciprocate benefits to others,
suggesting a positive relationship between ethical leadership and OCBI. Besides, ethical
leadership can motivate subordinates to become involved in and committed to working
hard (Brown et al., 2005). When such hard working provides contributions to the organization, OCBO rises; when such extra effort is put on helping others to achieve
higher objectives, OCBI increases. Indeed, past research has indicated that perceived
ethical leadership is related to job involvement and organizational commitment (Khuntia
& Suar, 2004), which are important antecedents of task performance, OCBO, and OCBI
(Cohen, 2006; Diefendorff, Brown, Kamin, & Lord, 2002). Taken together, we propose:
Hypothesis 1: Ethical leadership positively relates to subordinates’ (a) task perfor-
mance; (b) OCBO; and (c) OCBI.
The moderating role of workplace friendships
Workplace friendships, the unique interpersonal relationships that employees have the
freedom to create, develop, and maintain with one another beyond their formal roles in the absence of external forces within the organization, represent a degree of voluntary
interdependence, mutual concern, and interest (Winstead, Derlega, Montgomery, &
Pilkington, 1995). In such relationships, partners commit their time and efforts to
establish friendships that bring reciprocated benefits for those involved. Such recipro-
cated benefits provide strong social support (i.e., affective and instrumental support) for
employees to facilitate their social learning through perceptions of ethical leadership.
Social learning theory asserts that social learning is strewn with difficulties (Bandura,
1977, 1986). People often face failures, impediments, and frustrations that ultimately lead to self-doubts (Blau, 1993). As failures are difficult to avoid at work, social support that
facilitates the recovery of perceived self-efficacy from difficulties is important in the social
learning process (Shepherd, Covin, & Kuratko, 2009). Thus, good relationships that bring
strong social support can facilitate the social learning process (Ouweneel, Taris, van
Zolingen, & Schreurs, 2009). When the level of workplace friendships is high, employees
should have access to a wide range of social resources that help them enhance learning
from their ethical leaders.
Two perspectives of social support can explain the moderating role of workplace friendships in the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance. From an
affective support perspective, social support is likely to encourage individuals to learn,
particularly when they face a hard time in the learning process (Niessen, 2006). This
encouragement can propel focal employees’ motivation, self-efficacy, and initiative of
learning, thereby increasing the opportunity of recovery and decreasing the possibility of
giving up (Kruger, 1997). For example, employees might be punished by an ethical leader
for violating the ethical standards. Such punishment can lead them to experience a hard
time and feel frustrated. Employees who hold high levels of workplace friendships are likely to acquire comfort from their colleagues. Consequently, these employees are
inclined to recover quickly and be motivated to learn why they were punished by their
ethical role models. Such enhanced learning ultimately leads to high levels of task
performance (Liu, Liu, Kwan, & Mao, 2009). Moreover, quick recovering could also lead
employees to decrease the cost of learning. More likely employees perceive that ethical
leaders bring benefits rather than costs, more opportunities the employees regard their
relationship with the organization as social exchange, thereby strengthening the
relationship between ethical leadership and OCBO. Such social exchange relationship could also be extended to others, resulting in enhanced relationship between ethical
568 Jun Liu et al.
leadership and OCBI. Conversely, when employees do not acquire sufficient affective
encouragement, they are less likely to recover from frustration and learn from their ethical
leaders. In such situations, ethical leadership’s lower level of influence leads to a relatively
weak relationship between ethical leadership and task performance. In addition, slow recovering from ethical leaders’ punishment results in relatively high costs in the social
learning process. Such high costs reduce the likelihood that the relationship with the
organization is social exchange and the willingness of contributing to the organization,
which in turn, alleviates the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBO. Further,
the less likelihood for the social exchange relationship may be extended to others, thereby
mitigating the association between ethical leadership and OCBI.
From an instrumental support perspective, workplace friendships can also strengthen
the association between perceived ethical leadership and job performance. Employees who observe ethical leaders’ behaviour might not understand why leaders behave in such
a way or how the leaders’ values are linked to organizational values. When employees have
a high degree of workplace friendships, they have social support for obtaining
information, advice, and feedback concerning the ethical aspect of handling work duty.
Research suggests that advice and feedback are very important for employees to learn
from the target (Argyris, 1994). Other colleagues can explain the rationale behind ethical
leaders’ behaviour; more importantly, their explanation facilitates employees’ realization
and expectation of what ethical leaders want. When employees are provided with further support to increase their understanding of the ethical behaviour process, they are more
likely to be influenced by ethical leadership. One way to respond ethical leadership is to
finish assigned tasks effectively, thus strengthening the relationship between ethical
leadership and task performance. Another way to react ethical leadership is to reciprocate
the organization positively, therefore facilitating the relationship between ethical
leadership and OCBO. The third way to reciprocate ethical leadership is to help others
achieve higher job objectives, suggesting a stronger relationship between ethical
leadership and OCBI. Conversely, when employees have a low degree of workplace friendships, they have less social support, which depresses their opportunities to acquire
further advice and feedback about ethical issues. As advice and feedback are very
important for learning (Argyris, 1994), the lack of further information can discourage
employees from realizing why and how their ethical leaders display behaviour in a certain
way when encountering ethical issues at work. Thus, ethical leadership might ultimately
provide less influence on those employees, alleviating the relationships between ethical
leadership and task performance, OCBO, and OCBI. These arguments are consistent with
the empirical finding that workplace friendships facilitate the relationship between leader–member exchanges, as perceived by subordinates, and their positive reactions (Rousseau, Aub�e, Chiocchio, Boundrias, & Morin, 2008). Taken together, we propose:
Hypothesis 2: Workplace friendships moderate the relationships between perceived
ethical leadership and (a) task performance; (b) OCBO; and (c) OCBI,
such that the relationships are stronger for employees with high – as opposed to low – levels of workplace friendships.
The moderating role of traditionality
Leadership scholars have adopted an interactional approach in arguing that leadership
and individual factors jointly contribute to subordinates’ behaviours (Howell & Shamir,
2005; Yukl, 2006). This approach suggests that fully understanding the relationship
Ethical leadership 569
between ethical leadership and subordinate job performance requires looking at
subordinates’ characteristics. Consistent with this argument, past research has provided
evidence that traditionality moderates the effects of transformational leadership and
abusive supervision (Liu et al., 2010; Shin & Zhou, 2003). More specifically, high traditionalists are likely to be motivated by positive leader behaviours rather than low ones
(Shin & Zhou, 2003).
Over the past three decades, economic reforms have resulted in the transformation of
China from a centrally planned economy to a market-driven one, leading to fundamental
changes in individual values (Ahlstrom, Bruton, & Yeh, 2007). However, traditional values
are still deeply rooted in Chinese societies (Fu & Tsui, 2003; Fu, Tsui, Liu, & Li, 2010).
Research on traditional Chinese values and behaviours such as familism and guanxi
(indigenous interpersonal connections) provides evidence that the impact of traditional values on management practices is vast (Au & Kwan, 2009). Therefore, China provides an
ideal setting for understanding how a country-specific variable affects the association
between ethical leadership and job performance.
One of the central ideologies for traditionality is that leaders are expected to set ethical
models to motivate their followers, whereas followers have a moral obligation to
reciprocate with unquestioning loyalty and obedience (Bass, 1985). Traditional Chinese
people focus on expressive ties among people and submit, commit to, and respect the
norms, customs, and authorities of a traditional society (Fu et al., 2010). The Chinese societyasa whole isstillheavily influencedbyConfucianideology, suchasthe fivecardinal
relationships (also called wu-lun: Emperor–subject, father–son, husband–wife, elder– younger brother, and friend–friend), which sheds light on the close hierarchy in interpersonal relationships (Xin & Pearce, 1996). Given that Chinese people tend to
extend their family relationships to the workplace, the attitude that the family head is the
authorityathomeisgeneralizedtotheleaderatwork,whoisseenasafathersubstitute(Hui,
Lee, & Rousseau, 2004). As such, traditional Chinese values lead employees to respect
superior–subordinate hierarchical relationships as well as be sensitive to their authority figures (Hui, Wong, & Tjosvold, 2007). As previously mentioned, ethical leadership is
rooted in traditional Chinese values and high traditionalists look forward toethical leaders.
Hence,weproposethatfollowerswhoholdhighlevelsoftraditionalityaremorelikelytobe
motivated to finish assigned tasks effectively by their ethical leaders, consequently
enhancing the relationship between ethical leadership and task performance. Moreover,
high traditionalists are likely to believe in fatalism and have a low desire for work
self-determination (Yang et al., 1991). Therefore, they tend to pursue external sources,
such as leaders, to motivate their behaviours. This pursuit of motivation leads high traditionalists to focus on ethical leadership, which in turn causes more influences on task
performance. Attention to ethical leaders could also strengthen the reciprocation to the
organization, thereby exacerbating the relationship between ethical leadership and
OCBO; such reciprocation could be extended to others, making a stronger relationship
between ethical leadership and OCBI. In contrast, low traditionalists are less likely to
pursue ethical values and might therefore be less motivated by ethical leaders and
influencedbyperceptionsofethicalleadership.Insum,hightraditionaliststendtorespond
morefavourablytoleaders’positiveinfluencethanlowtraditionalists.Hence,wepropose:
Hypothesis 3: Subordinate traditionality moderates the relationship between perceived
ethical leadership and (1) task performance; (2) OCBO; and (3) OCBI,
such that the relationships are stronger for employees with high – as opposed to low – levels of traditionality.
570 Jun Liu et al.
Method
Samples and procedures To test our model, two phases of surveys were administered to focal employees and
their supervisors in a state-owned oil and gas manufacturer in northern China in winter
2011 and spring 2012. At time one, subordinates reported perceived leadership styles,
including ethical leadership and control variables (i.e., transformational leadership and
transactional leadership), workplace friendships, and traditionality as well as their own
demographics. At time two, 6 months after time one, each supervisor assessed his/her
corresponding subordinate’s behaviours, including task performance, OCBO, and
OCBI. The firm employed more than 9,500 staff. Our study targeted 450 technical workers
and their immediate supervisors as blue-collar labour is the main component of the
Chinese workforce (Editorial Board of the China Commerce Yearbook, 2009). To prevent
rating loadings and fatigue, each supervisor was allowed to rate only one subordinate. We
randomly selected a subordinate for each supervisor. Both employee and supervisor
survey packets were distributed via the internal mail system and then returned via
business reply envelopes. Survey questionnaires were coded before distribution, and an
officer from the human resource (HR) department assisted in recording the identity numbers and respondents’ names to match supervisor–subordinate at time one and time two (the HR officer was not allowed access to survey results). At time one, 371
subordinates provided responses. At time two, we sent survey questionnaires to time one
respondents’ supervisors and obtained 312 responses. Consequently, the final sample for
this study consisted of 312 matched supervisor–subordinate dyads, with a total response rate of 69.3%. We confirmed from the HR department that no subordinates changed
supervisors during the survey period.
Approximately 78% of the 312 subordinate respondents were male. Regarding the subordinate age, 11% were below 31 years; 67% were between 31 and 40; 20% were
between 41 and 50 years. On average, they had an organizational tenure of 8.50 years
(SD = 4.62 years). In terms of subordinate educational levels, about 57.5% had earned a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree. Among the supervisor respondents, approximately
76% were male, 3% were below 31 years, 30% were between 31 and 40, and 62% were
between 41 and 50 years. On average, they had an organizational tenure of 11.48 years
(SD = 4.55 years).
Measures
Questionnaires were in Chinese. The traditionality (Yang et al., 1991) scale was
originally developed in the Chinese context, while those of other key variables were
developed in Western contexts. As the ethical leadership, transformational leadership,
transactional leadership, task performance, OCBO, and OCBI measures had Chinese
versions, we only needed to translate the measurement of workplace friendships into
Chinese. A back-translation was conducted by two Chinese doctoral students in management to ensure translation quality (Brislin, 1980). The back-translation results
satisfactorily demonstrated that all important concepts were included in the
back-translated version.
All of the constructs described in the following sections – with the exception of demographic control variables – were measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree.
Ethical leadership 571
Ethical leadership
A 10-item scale originally developed by Brown et al. (2005), and later applied by
Walumbwa et al. (2011) in China, was used to measure perceived ethical leadership. A
sample item reads: ‘My immediate supervisor disciplines employees who violate ethical standards’. Cronbach’s alpha for this measure was .92.
Workplace friendships
Workplace friendships were assessed using a 6-item scale originally developed by
Nielsen, Jex, and Adams (2000) and applied by Tse et al. (2008). A sample item is:
‘I have formed strong friendships at work’. Cronbach’s alpha for this measure was .86.
Traditionality
A 5-item scale originally developed by Yang et al. (1991) and applied by Farh, Hackett, and
Liang (2007) was used to measure traditionality. A sample item is: ‘The chief government
official is just like the head of a household; the citizen should obey his decisions on all state
matters’. Cronbach’s alpha for this measure was .71.
Task performance
A 5-item scale originally developed by Williams and Anderson (1991), and later adapted by
Hui, Law, and Chen (1999)in the Chinese context, wasusedto measure task performance.
A sample item is: ‘[The subordinate] fulfils all formal job responsibilities’. Cronbach’s
alpha for this measure was .86.
OCBO
A 7-item scale originally developed by Williams and Anderson (1991) was used to
measure OCBO. A sample item is: ‘[The subordinate] gives advance notice when unable
to come to work’. Cronbach’s alpha for this measure was .91.
OCBI
A 7-item scale originally developed by Williams and Anderson (1991) was used to measure
OCBI. A sample item is: ‘[The subordinate] helps others who have been absent’. Cronbach’s alpha for this measure was .86.
Control variables
We controlled for transformational leadership and transactional leadership because they
potentially overlap with ethical leadership (Brown et al., 2005) and influence job
performance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). We used the Chinese
version (Song, Tsui, & Law, 2009) of Waldman, Ram�ırez, House, and Puranam’s (2001) measures for transformational and transactional leadership. The Waldman et al. (2001)
measure is a modified version of Bass and Avolio’s (1990) multifactor leadership
questionnaire. In the present study, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the 2 scales
were .86 (transformational leadership) and .90 (transactional leadership). We also
controlled for subordinate demographic variables, including gender (coded ‘1′ = male
572 Jun Liu et al.
and ‘2’ = female) and organizational tenure (years) as these variables might impact job performance (Ng & Feldman, 2008).
Results
Confirmatory factor analysis
We applied structural equation modelling with LISREL 8.30 to conduct confirmatory
factor analyses (CFAs) to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the
multiple-item variables. Eight variables (ethical leadership, transformational leadership,
transactional leadership, workplace friendships, traditionality, task performance, OCBO, and OCBI), with their 54 items, were included in the analyses. Given the small sample size
relative to the measurement items (Landis, Beal, & Tesluk, 2000), we created item-parcels
prior to conducting the analyses. Specifically, the items with the highest and lowest
loadings for each construct were combined first, followed by items with the next highest
and lowest loadings, then items with the third highest and lowest lodgings, and so on.
Using this procedure, we ultimately obtained three items for each of previously
mentioned variables. We modelled the 24 items into the eight proposed latent constructs,
yielding satisfactory fit indices: v2 (224) = 300.22, p < .05; RMSEA = .031, p for close fit = ns; GFI = .93, CFI = .98; TLI = .98. In addition, all the factor loadings were significant, demonstrating convergent validity. We examined the discriminant validity of
the eight constructs as well as the common method issue (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, &
Podsakoff, 2003) by contrasting the eight-factor model (the baseline model) against
several alternative models (see Table 1 for details).
The CFA results indicated that the alternative models yielded poor fits with the data
(i.e., GFI/CFI/TLI < .90; RMSEA > .05). In addition, comparing v2 values of those alternative models to that of the baseline model, we found that the eight-factor model better fit than the alternative models (i.e., v2 changes significantly, see Table 1 for detail). Thus, the discriminant validity of the constructs was confirmed.
Descriptive statistics
Table 2 presents the means, standard deviations, and correlations of all variables. As
shown in the table, ethical leadership was positively associated with job performance
(r = .18, p < .01), OCBO (r = .26, p < .01), and OCBI (r = .20, p < .01), preliminarily supporting Hypothesis 1.
Tests of hypotheses Hierarchical regression was used to test our hypotheses, including the main effects and
moderating effects. Variables were hierarchically entered into regression analyses. For
instance, in the first step, control variables were entered to explain task performance/
OCBO/OCBI. We entered the independent variable – ethical leadership – in the second step and the moderating variables – traditionality and workplace friendships – in the third step. Two-way interaction terms were entered in the finally step. To avoid multicollin-
earity problems, we centred the variables used in interaction terms (Aiken & West, 1991;
Edwards, 2009). Table 3 presents the results of regression analyses for task performance/ OCBO/OCBI as the dependent variables.
Hypothesis 1 predicted that ethical leadership had a positive impact on task
performance, OCBO, and OCBI. As shown in Table 3, ethical leadership was positively
Ethical leadership 573
related to OCBO (b = .14, p < .05, Model 8) and OCBI (b = .17, p < .05, Model 12), but not to task performance (b = .06, ns, Model 4). The results supported Hypotheses 1b and 1c, but rejected Hypothesis 1a.
Hypotheses 2 and 3 predicted that workplace friendships and traditionality enhanced
the ethical leadership–task performance/OCBO/OCBI relationships. From Table 3, we found that the ethical leadership–workplace friendships interaction term significantly related to task performance (b = .19, p < .01, Model 4), but not to OCBO (b = .06, ns, Model 8) and OCBI (b = .09, ns, Model 12), thereby supporting Hypothesis 2a but rejecting Hypotheses 2b and 2c. We further found that the ethical leadership– traditionality interaction term significantly related to task performance (b = .14, p < .05, Model 4), OCBO (b = .12, p < .05, Model 8), and OCBI (b = .21, p < .01, Model 12), supporting Hypotheses 3a–3c. Following Aiken and West’s (1991) procedure, we plotted Figures 1–4 to illustrate the nature of the significant interactions. As expected, Figure 1 shows that ethical leadership had positive effects on task performance when
employees had high levels of workplace friendships (b = .26, simple slope t = 4.74, p < .01). Surprisingly, ethical leadership was negatively related to task performance when employees had low levels of workplace friendships (b = �.13, simple slope t = �2.29, p < .05). In addition, Figures 2–4 demonstrate that ethical leadership had positive relationships with task performance (b = .21, simple slope t = 3.78, p < .01), OCBO (b = .27, simple slope t = 4.94, p < .01), and OCBI (b = .38, simple slope t = 7.23,
Table 1. Results of confirmatory factor analyses of the measures
v2(df) Dv2(Ddf) RMSEA
p for
close
fit a
GFI CFI TLI AIC
Eight-factor model
(baseline model)
300.22 (224)** – .031 1.00 .93 .98 .98 445.43
Alternative models
Seven-factor model b
551.76 (231)** 251.54 (7)** .070 0.00 .87 .93 .92 725.39
Six-factor model I c
772.41 (237)** 472.19 (13)** .090 0.00 .82 .89 .87 996.43
Six-factor model II d
1112.87 (237)** 812.65 (13)** .109 0.00 .77 .82 .78 1245.47
Four-factor model e
1813.44 (246)** 1513.22 (22)** .143 0.00 .67 .67 .63 1926.78
One-factor model f
3487.27 (255)** 3187.05 (31)** .235 0.00 .45 .32 .26 4752.60
Note. RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; GFI = Goodness of Fit Index; CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; OCB = organizational citizenship behaviour; OCBO = organizational citizenship behaviour towards the organization; OCBI = organizational citizenship behaviour towards individuals. a p value for Test of Close Fit (RMSEA < .05). b The seven-factor model was obtained, upon the baseline model, by loading measuring items of OCBO
and OCBI into a ‘grand’ OCB factor. c Obtained upon the baseline model by loading task performance’s, OCBO’s, and OCBI’s items into a
‘grand’ job performance factor. d Obtained upon the baseline model by loading ethical, transformational, and transactional leadership’s
items into a ‘grand’ leadership factor. e Obtained by loading three leadership styles’, workplace friendships’ and traditionality’s items into a
‘grand’ time one factor. f Obtained by loading all 24 items into one latent factor.
**p < .01.
574 Jun Liu et al.
T a b le
2 . M e a n s, st a n d a rd
d e v ia ti o n s, a n d c o rr e la ti o n s
V a ri a b le s
M e a n
S D
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 1 0
1 . E m p lo y e e g e n d e r
1 .2 2
– 2 . O rg a n iz a ti o n a l te n u re
(y e a r)
8 .5 0
4 .6 2
.0 3
3 . T ra n sf o rm
a ti o n a l le a d e rs h ip (T 1 )
3 .7 2
.6 6
�. 0 2
.0 7
(. 8 6 )
4 . T ra n sa c ti o n a l le a d e rs h ip (T 1 )
3 .6 5
.8 5
�. 0 7
.0 9
.4 1
(. 9 0 )
5 . E th ic a l le a d e rs h ip (T 1 )
3 .8 2
.7 2
�. 0 7
.0 7
.6 9
.4 0
(. 9 2 )
6 . W
o rk p la c e fr ie n d sh ip s (T 1 )
3 .6 0
.9 8
.0 0
.0 5
.0 8
.0 6
.1 2
(. 8 6 )
7 . T ra d it io n a li ty
(T 1 )
2 .8 9
.7 4
.0 0
.0 2
.0 6
�. 0 5
.0 3
.1 4
(. 7 1 )
8 . T a sk
p e rf o rm
a n c e (T 2 )
3 .7 5
.8 2
�. 0 7
.0 1
.2 0
.1 6
.1 8
.0 0
.0 5
(. 8 6 )
9 . O C B O
(T 2 )
3 .8 9
.7 6
�. 0 3
�. 0 3
.2 5
.1 9
.2 6
.0 4
�. 0 3
.6 0
(. 9 1 )
1 0 . O C B I (T 2 )
3 .4 7
.7 2
.0 1
.0 0
.1 4
.1 0
.2 0
.0 7
.0 1
.4 3
.5 5
(. 8 6 )
N o te . O C B O
= o rg a n iz a ti o n a l c it iz e n sh ip b e h a v io u r to w a rd s th e o rg a n iz a ti o n ; O C B I = o rg a n iz a ti o n a l c it iz e n sh ip b e h a v io u r to w a rd s in d iv id u a ls .
N = 3 1 2 .
C o rr e la ti o n c o e ffi c ie n ts h ig h e r th a n .1 1 , p < .0 5 ; h ig h e r th a n .1 5 , p < .0 1 .
C ro n b a c h ’s a lp h a v a lu e s a p p e a r a lo n g th e d ia g o n a l in th e b ra c k e ts .
G e n d e r is c o d e d ‘1 ’ = m a le , ‘2 ’ = fe m a le .
Ethical leadership 575
T a b le
3 . R e su lt s o f h ie ra rc h ic a l re g re ss io n a n a ly se s fo r ta sk
p e rf o rm
a n c e /O
C B O /O
C B I a s th e d e p e n d e n t v a ri a b le
T a sk
p e rf o rm
a n c e
O C B O
O C B I
M 1
M 2
M 3
M 4
M 5
M 6
M 7
M 8
M 9
M 1 0
M 1 1
M 1 2
S te p 1 : C o n tr o l v a ri a b le s
E m p lo y e e g e n d e r
�. 0 6
�. 0 6
�. 0 6
�. 0 6
�. 0 1
�. 0 1
�. 0 1
�. 0 1
.0 2
.0 3
.0 3
.0 2
O rg a n iz a ti o n a l te n u re
.0 0
.0 0
.0 0
.0 0
�. 0 6
�. 0 6
�. 0 6
�. 0 5
�. 0 2
�. 0 2
�. 0 3
�. 0 2
T ra n sf o rm
a ti o n a l le a d e rs h ip
.1 6 *
.1 2
.1 2
.1 2
.2 1 **
.1 2
.1 2
.1 2
.1 3 *
.0 2
.0 2
.0 1
T ra n sa c ti o n a l le a d e rs h ip
.0 9
.0 8
.0 9
.1 1
.1 1
.0 9
.0 9
.1 0
.0 6
.0 3
.0 3
.0 6
S te p 2 : In d e p e n d e n t v a ri a b le
E th ic a l le a d e rs h ip
.0 6
.0 6
.0 6
.1 5 *
.1 4 *
.1 4 *
.1 9 **
.1 8 *
.1 7 *
S te p 3 : M o d e ra ti n g v a ri a b le s
W o rk p la c e fr ie n d sh ip s
�. 0 3
.0 0
.0 3
.0 5
.0 6
.0 8
T ra d it io n a li ty
.0 5
.0 7
�. 0 4
�. 0 3
.0 0
.0 2
S te p 4 : T w o -w
a y in te ra c ti o n s
E th ic a l le a d e rs h ip
9 W
o rk p la c e fr ie n d sh ip s
.1 9 **
.0 6
.0 9
E th ic a l le a d e rs h ip
9 T ra d it io n a li ty
.1 4 *
.1 2 *
.2 1 **
R 2
.0 5 *
.0 5 *
.0 5 *
.1 1 **
.0 8 **
.0 9 **
.0 9 **
.1 1 **
.0 3
.0 5 *
.0 5 *
.1 1 **
D R 2
– .0 0
.0 0
.0 6 **
– .0 1
.0 0
.0 2 *
– .0 2 **
.0 0
.0 6 **
N o te . O C B O
= o rg a n iz a ti o n a l c it iz e n sh ip b e h a v io u r to w a rd s th e o rg a n iz a ti o n ; O C B I = o rg a n iz a ti o n a l c it iz e n sh ip b e h a v io u r to w a rd s in d iv id u a ls .
* * p < .0 1 ; * p < .0 5 .
576 Jun Liu et al.
1.0
3.0
5.0
1.0 5.0
low in workplace friendships β = –.13, t = –2.29, p < .05
high in workplace friendships β = .26, t = 4.74, p < .01
T as
k pe
rf or
m an
ce
Ethical leadership
Figure 1. The interaction between ethical leadership and workplace friendships on task performance.
1.0
3.0
5.0
1.0 5.0
low in traditionality β = –.08, t = 1.41, ns
high in traditionality β = .21, t = 3.78, p < .01
T as
k pe
rf or
m an
ce
Ethical leadership
Figure 2. The interaction between ethical leadership and traditionality on task performance.
1.0
3.0
5.0
1.0 5.0
low in traditionality β = .02, t = .34, ns
high in traditionality β = .27, t = 4.94, p < .01
O C
B O
Ethical leadership
Figure 3. The interaction between ethical leadership and traditionality on OCBO. OCBO = organi- zational citizenship behaviour towards the organization.
1.0
3.0
5.0
1.0 5.0
low in traditionality β = –.04, t = –.70, ns
high in traditionality β = .38, t = 7.23, p < .01
O C
B I
Ethical leadership
Figure 4. The interaction between ethical leadership and traditionality on OCBI. OCBI = organiza- tional citizenship behaviour towards individuals.
Ethical leadership 577
p < .01) for high traditionalists, but had non-significant relationships for low tradition- alists (b = �.08, .02, and �.04, ns). Such evidence further supported Hypotheses 2a and 3a–3c.
Discussion
The findings of this study supported the hypotheses regarding the linkage of ethical
leadership, as perceived by employees, and their task performance, OCBO, and OCBI.
First, consistent with social learning theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986), we found that ethical
leadership was positively associated with employees’ OCBO and OCBI. Second, based on the notion that individuals need social resources to facilitate the social learning process
(Bandura, 1977, 1986), we found that workplace friendships strengthened the relation-
ship between ethical leadership and task performance. Third, according to the argument
that traditionality leads individuals to be sensitive to leaders’ positive behaviours (Shin &
Zhou, 2003), we further found that traditionality exacerbated the positive relationships
between ethical leadership and task performance, OCBO, and OCBI. The theoretical and
managerial implications of our findings are discussed in the following sections.
Theoretical implications
Our study makes several distinct theoretical contributions. First, social learning
theory again appears to act as a useful theoretical lens to realize the effect of ethical
leadership on subordinates’ responses (Brown et al., 2005). Our results empirically
demonstrate for the first time that, apart from perceptions of transformational
leadership and transactional leadership, perceptions of ethical leadership are
positively related to job performance. Thus, by extending previous research about ethical leadership and job performance, which generally ignores the control of
related leadership styles, our study indicates that ethical leadership explains
additional unique variance and responds to the call from Walumbwa et al. (2011)
to control for transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Such control
is important because the effects of ethical leadership on job performance are mainly
based on the social learning and role modelling perspective, which is different from
the theoretical foundation of transformational and transactional leadership. Hence,
our findings provide evidence that social learning theory is also key to explaining the effects of perceptions of leadership on followers’ responses.
Second, our study demonstrates that extending ethical leadership by including
situational and individual (cultural) considerations is important. According to the
contingency perspective (Yukl, 2006), we developed a model of the relationship
between perceived ethical leadership and job performance by identifying the boundary
conditions and investigating the moderating roles of workplace friendships and
traditionality. The moderating effects suggest a complex picture of the ways in which
contextual variables and individual characteristics (cultural values) affect the ethical leadership–job performance relationship. Based on the notion that workplace friend- ships provide a strong sense of mutual benefits, thereby facilitating the social learning
process, we found that employees who have high levels of workplace friendships are
more favourable to ethical leadership by enhancing their task performance. This finding
is consistent with and provides empirical support for the contingency perspective,
which holds that leadership has a more positive impact on employee outcomes when
relationships with other organizational members are good (Rousseau et al., 2008).
578 Jun Liu et al.
However, we also found that ethical leadership results in reduced task performance
when followers hold low levels of workplace friendships. This surprising finding
provides evidence that ethical leadership has potential negative effects on followers. For
example, punishment by ethical leaders might lead followers to be dissatisfied, likely repressing their job motivation. Hence, our finding can guide future research to focus on
the dark side of ethical leadership. The outcome variables could include other job
performance components, such that over-emphasizing ethics may lead employees to
follow ethical standards closely, which in turn may discourage their creativity. Indeed,
future research examining the negative effects of ethical leadership will need a relatively
new theoretical framework but could provide a comprehensive picture of the
consequences of ethical leadership. Nevertheless, our results have answered the call
for studies to investigate how supervisors’ ethical style interacts with contextual variables (e.g., Brown & Trevi~no, 2006) and colleague influences (e.g., Zhu et al., 2004) to influence followers’ outcomes. Thus, this study makes a unique contribution by
shifting away from examining the leader and towards examining the followers.
In revealing the moderating role of traditionality as subordinates’ cultural value, our
study contributed to the literature using an interactional approach to provide a more
accurate realization of the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance.
Our study is the first to investigate the cultural effects on this relationship and further
echoes the calls for attention of individual values (Zhu et al., 2004). As previously discussed, high traditionalists are sensitive to positive behaviours of their leaders, and
thus, they learn quickly from their ethical role models. This finding both facilitates ethical
leadership scholars’ consideration of cultural characteristics that might enhance or
depress the influence of ethical leadership perceptions and explains unique management
phenomena in a Confucian society, making a significant contribution to indigenous
management research in high-context countries. Hence, our study can direct future
research to focus on the cultural boundary condition of ethical leadership’s impacts.
Other potential cultural variables could include power distance, which conceptually overlaps with traditionality (Farh et al., 2007).
As the first effort to investigate the boundary conditions with respect to the influence
of ethical leadership on job performance, this study contributes to the leadership
literature by connecting the social learning and contingency perspectives, contextual
factors (workplace friendships), individual and cultural characteristics (traditional
values), and job performance in a single study. Our findings can encourage ethical
leadership researchers to pay attention to the boundary conditions related to contexts and
cultures in future studies. However, we also note that – although our hypotheses are based on a strong
theoretical framework – the moderating effects of workplace friendships on the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBO and OCBI were non-significant.
Such non-significant results might be explained by untested variables that influence
the moderating effects of workplace friendships. The ways in which workplace
friendships strengthen the effects of ethical leadership are less likely to influence all
individuals equally. In particular, followers who have strong social networks outside
the organization might not regard workplace friendships as compulsorily useful resources. For example, informal mentoring relationships could replace workplace
friendships to help employees learn and understand why their ethical leaders act in
such way (Liu et al., 2009). Because informal mentors are not necessarily organiza-
tional members, employees are more likely to respond positively to mentors outside
the organization than to exhibit OCBO and OCBI within the organization. Therefore,
Ethical leadership 579
the interaction effects between ethical leadership and workplace friendships on
enhancing OCB may be attenuated by the existence of informal mentoring
relationships. Social capital theory, which helps us to realize the beneficial resources
embedded in social networks within and outside the organization (Liu et al., 2009), could be used to inform studies on how social networks influence the effects of
ethical leadership. These speculations are left to future research.
Practical implications
In practical terms, job performance is important for the organization (Ng & Feldman,
2008). Our work suggests three channels by which managers and the organization can
increase the degree of employee job performance. The first is to take steps to enhance supervisors’ ethical leadership. The organization may need to recruit supervisors who
have high levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness as research reveals that these two
personality traits can lead supervisors to demonstrate relatively higher levels of ethical
leadership (Walumbwa & Schaubroeck, 2009). In addition, the organization may need to
invest in ethics training and mentoring programs about accountability, self-discipline,
fairness, communications, and ethical dilemmas to teach managers how to improve
ethical leadership (Grojean et al., 2004; Mayer et al., 2009). The second channel to
enhance job performance is to promote workplace friendships that facilitate the positive impact of ethical leadership on employees’ task performance. Research provides
evidence that leader–member exchanges and affective climate can promote workplace friendships (Tse et al., 2008). Therefore, managers and the organization may need to pay
attention to both individual and group level variables. The organization can provide
training and mentoring programs to facilitate positive relationships between leaders
and subordinates as well as affective climate involving warmth, support, acceptance,
sincerity, and enthusiasm. The third channel is to promote traditional values. Managers
should be better aware of the cultural boundary of the effective application of Western theories, particularly with respect to a Confucius society, such as China, where levels of
traditionality tend to be high. Organizations that want to enhance the level of employees’
job performance should recruit employees with high levels of traditional values, and
senior workers should transfer traditional values to junior workers through training and
mentoring.
Limitations and future research Several limitations in this study warrant consideration. First, the understandings of ethical
leadership and traditional values may differ across countries, suggesting some caution
regarding the generalizability of our findings. Hence, cross-cultural studies are needed to
validate the findings. Second, workplace friendships represent the concepts of mutual
benefits. However, friendships can also be acquired from the community, which may also
facilitate the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance. Additional
research should be undertaken to understand how other sources of friendships influence
the impact of ethical leadership. Third, the time interval for measuring ethical leadership and job performance was 6 months. This design may introduce the possibility that other
factors influenced the outcome variables such that high-quality relationships developed
between supervisors and their subordinates that did not involve ethics, but still promoted
a desire for the promotion of job performance. Hence, measurements about relationship
quality between supervisors and subordinates should be included in future research.
580 Jun Liu et al.
Finally, a constraint on the generalizability of the present findings was the use of
blue-collar labour in a manufacturing firm. Future research is needed to compare findings
from blue-collar employees in manufacturing and white-collar employees in other
industries.
Conclusion
Despite these limitations, this study has provided insights into crucial issues regarding
ethical leadership, workplace friendships, traditionality, and job performance. It has
revealed that the interactions of ethical leadership with workplace friendships and
traditionality are key predictors of job performance. An important caveat of this study is
that, although ethical leadership is critical, we need to pay closer attention to the boundary roles of contexts and cultural values.
Acknowledgements
The study is supported by the fundamental research funds for the central universities, and
the research funds of Renmin University of China (Project code: 11XNS001). The authors
would like to thank Christian Resick, Mary Mawritz, Sharon Clarke (Associate Editor),
and four reviewers for their helpful comments on early drafts of this paper.
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