Investigating the backgrounds and results of applying ethical leadership style in organizations

Ethical leadership is one of the new styles of leadership that frequently has been discussed in recent researches and articles. In this paper, we first introduce the ethical leadership style to compare it with other leadership styles, such as authentic leadership, transformational leadership, and spiritual leadership. In the following, we will briefly explain the backgrounds and results of applying this leadership style in organizations. It is worth mentioning that we will introduce some mediating variables influencing the use of this leadership style. After this, we more closely examine some of the results and outcomes of ethical leadership, such as job burnout and turnover. To be more specific, we first analyze the relationship between ethical leadership and emotional exhaustion (one of the most important factors of job burnout) through two mediating variables: team cohesion and conscientiousness. After that, we examine the relationship between ethical leadership and job burnout in a broader context by considering the three facets of job burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). Finally, we present a conclusion about the application of ethical leadership style in organizations.

Keywords:

Ethical leadership , Job burnout , Turnover