AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF THE MEDIATING ROLES OF COMMUNICATION AND ETHICAL CLIMATE

Abstract

Purpose - The aim of this search is to examine the effects of ethical climate and communication climate on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behavior regarding communication perspective. Habermas’ theory of communicative action is mainly used to explain the relationships.

Methodology - Survey method is used to test the hypothesized effects in the proposed model. 514 personnel and supervisors from the industries of public services, technology, government, educational services and manufacturing are surveyed. Survey results are analyzed by structural equation modelling.

Findings - As a result of the research, all hypothesized relationships in the proposed model are supported revealing that ethical leadership is related to employee voice behavior and this relationship is partially mediated by both communication climate and ethical climate.

Conclusion - Working with an ethical leader in an environment perceived as having an effective ethical and communication climate fosters voice of employees, which, in turn, causes to the company to get the benefits of having higher voice of employees.

Keywords

• Ethical climate,ethical leadership,communication climate,employee voice,mediator role of communication climate

References

1. Avey, J. B., Wensing, T. S., Palanski, M. E. (2012). Exploring the process of ethical leadership: The mediating role of employee voice and psyhological ownership. J Business Ethics (2012), 107:21-34.
2. Bai, Y., Lin, L., Liu, J.T. (2017). Leveraging the employee voice: a multi-level social learning perspective of ethical leadership. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2017.1308414.
3. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84,191–215.
4. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought & action. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
5. Bojuwon, M., Bojuwon, Y. B. (2015). Measuring lecturers commitment scales: A second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). International Journal of Education and Research, Vol. 3 No. 3 March 2015.
6. Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 595–616.
7. Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 595–616.
8. Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K., Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, 117–134.

9. Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K., Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, 117–134.
10. Cullen, J. B., Victor, B., Stephens, C. (1987). An ethical weather report: Assessing the organization's ethical climate. Organizational Dynamics, 50—62.
11. Downs, C. W., Hazen, M. D. (1977). A factor analytic study of communication satisfaction. The Journal of Business Communication, 14 (3): 63-74.
12. Elçi, M., Alpkan, L. (2009). The impact of perceived organizational ethical climate on work satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics 84, 297–311.
13. Fairtlough, G. H. (1991). Habermas’ Concept of “Lifeworld”. Systems Practice, Vol. 4, No. 6, 1991.
14. Glew, D. J., O’Leary-Kelly, A. M., Griffin, R. W., van Fleet, D. D. (1995). Participation in organizations: A preview of the issues and proposed framework for future analysis. Journal of Management, 21(3), 395–421.10.1177/014920639502100302[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar], p. 402).
15. Grojean, M., Resick, C., Dickson, M., Smith, D. B. (2004). Leaders, values, and organizational climate: examining leadership strategies for establishing an organizational climate regarding ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 55, 223–241.
16. Habermas, J. (1984). Theory of communicative action. Volume 1: Reason and the rationalization of society. Boston: Beacon Press.
17. Habermas, J. (1987). Theory of communicative action. Volume 2: Lifeworld and system a critique of functionalist reason. Boston: Beacon Press.
18. Habermas, J. (1996). Moral consciousness and communicative action. Cambridge: MIT Press.
19. Habermas, J. (1998). Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
20. Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R. L. (2010). Examining the Link between ethical leadership and employee misconduct: The mediating role of ethical climate. Journal of Business Ethics, 95:7-16.
21. Mulki, J. P., Jaramillo, J. F., Locander, W. B. (2009). Critical role of leadership on ethical climate and salesperson behaviors. 86, 125-141.
22. Ng, T. W. H., Feldman, D. C. (2012). Employee voice behavior: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 216-234.
23. Park, J. Y., Nawakitphaitoon, K. (2018). The cross‐cultural study of LMX and individual employee voice: The moderating role of conflict avoidance. Hum Resour Manag J. 2018; 28: 14–30.
24. Schminke, M., Ambrose, M. L., Neubaum, D. O. (2005). The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 97, 135–151.
25. Schwepker, C. H. Jr., Ferrell, O. C., Ingram, T. N. (1997). The influence of ethical climate on role stress in the sales force. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25 (Spring): 99–108.
26. Trevino, L. K., Brown, M. E. (2004). Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths. Academy of Management Executive, 2004, Vol.18, No. 2.
27. Van Dyne, L., LePine, J. A. (1998). Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: evidence of construct and predictive validity. Academy of Management Journal, Volume 14, 108-119.
28. Walumbwa, F. O., Schaubroeck, J. (2009). Leader personality traits and employee voice behavior: Mediating roles of ethical leadership and work group psychological safety. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009, Vol. 94, No. 5, 1275–1286.
29. Wang, X., Zhao, X. (2016). Experimental study of organizational ethical climate and silence: Based on the theory of psyhological expectations. 2016 2nd Asia-Pacific Management and Engineering Conference.
30. Wang, D., Gan, C., Wu, C., Wang, D. (2015). Ethical leadership and employee voice: employee self-efficacy and self-impact as mediators. Psychological Reports: Employment Psychology & Marketing 2015, 116, 3, 751-767. © Psychological Reports 2015.
31. Wang, D., Gan, C., Wu, C., Wang, D. (2015). Ethical leadership and employee voice: Employee self-efficacy and self-impact as mediators. Psychological Reports: Employment Psychology & Marketing 2015, 116, 3, 751-767.
32. Yang, Q., Liu, M. X. (2014). Ethical leadership, organizational identification and employee voice: examining moderated mediation process in the Chinese insurance industry. Asia Pacific Business Review, 20:2, 231-248, DOI: 10.1080/13602381.2013.823712.
33. Yuan, L., Vu, M. C., Nguyen, T. T. N. (2017). Linking ethical leadership to employee voice behavior: The role of leader-member exchange. International Journal of Management & Business Studies, Vol.7, Issue 3, July-Sept 2017.
34. Zhu, W., He, H., Trevino L. K., Chao, M. M., Wang, W. (2015). Ethical leadership and follower voice and performance: The role of follower identifications and entity morality belief. The Leadership Quarterly 26 (2015) 702-718.