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Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture

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  • Conna Yang

Abstract

Business ethics has been emphasized throughout the past decade and organizations are aware of the influence it has on the organization’s performance. As a result, ethical leadership is important as it influences the employees profoundly. This study aims to address this issue and explore the influence ethical leadership has on employees by examining job satisfaction, subjective well-being at work, and life satisfaction. Two groups of independent data were collected and a multi-group analysis was conducted before pooling together for a two-step structural equation modeling test. The results revealed that ethical leadership has a negative direct effect on employee well-being which offers significant findings for the meaning of ethical leadership in the Chinese culture. Useful managerial implications are provided for managers and supervisors at the end of this study. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

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  • Conna Yang, 2014. "Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 513-525, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:123:y:2014:i:3:p:513-525
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1852-6
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    2. Fatima Afzal & Roksana Jahan Tumpa, 2024. "Exploring Leadership Styles to Foster Sustainability in Construction Projects: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-32, January.
    3. Tran Quang Bao Phuc & Khalida Parveen & Duyen Thi Truc Tran & Dao Thi Anh Nguyen, 2021. "The linkage between ethical leadership and lecturer job satisfaction at a private higher education institution in Vietnam," Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 39-50.
    4. Li Yuan & Robert Chia & Jonathan Gosling, 2023. "Confucian Virtue Ethics and Ethical Leadership in Modern China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 119-133, January.
    5. Catherine Viot & Laïla Benraiss-Noailles, 2019. "The Link Between Benevolence and Well-Being in the Context of Human-Resource Marketing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 883-896, October.
    6. Mansi Jain & Gagan Deep Sharma & Mandeep Mahendru, 2019. "Can I Sustain My Happiness? A Review, Critique and Research Agenda for Economics of Happiness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-36, November.
    7. Vishag Badrinarayanan & Indu Ramachandran & Sreedhar Madhavaram, 2019. "Mirroring the Boss: Ethical Leadership, Emulation Intentions, and Salesperson Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 897-912, October.
    8. Raquel Ruiz-Rodríguez & Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, 2023. "Neuroleadership: a new way for happiness management," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Yau-De Wang & Conna Yang, 2016. "How Appealing are Monetary Rewards in the Workplace? A Study of Ethical Leadership, Love of Money, Happiness, and Turnover Intention," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1277-1290, December.
    10. Afif G. Nassif & Rick D. Hackett & Gordon Wang, 2021. "Ethical, Virtuous, and Charismatic Leadership: An Examination of Differential Relationships with Follower and Leader Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 581-603, September.
    11. Misbah Hayat Bhatti & Umair Akram & Muhammad Hasnat Bhatti & Hassan Rasool & Xin Su, 2020. "Unraveling the Effects of Ethical Leadership on Knowledge Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Subjective Well-Being and Social Media in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    12. N. A. Mozumder, 2018. "A Multilevel Trust-based Model of Ethical Public Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 167-184, November.
    13. Lantican, Carl Anthony O., 2020. "The Influence of Ethical Leadership on Employees’ Work-Related Stress and Organizational Commitment: Evidence from a Developing Country," Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development, Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development (JEMAD), vol. 6(1), June.
    14. Catherine Viot & Laïla Benraiss-Noailles, 2018. "The Link Between Benevolence and Well-Being in the Context of Human-Resource Marketing," Post-Print hal-01803653, HAL.
    15. Shuxia Zhang & Yidong Tu, 2018. "Cross-Domain Effects of Ethical Leadership on Employee Family and Life Satisfaction: the Moderating Role of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1085-1097, November.

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