The Mediating Role of Trust in the Effect of Ethical Leadership on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors

Abstract

This empirical study aims to analyze the effect of ethical leadership onemployees’ citizenship behavior in organization, commitment, and job satisfaction bydetermining how the trust-based relationships within the organization are related to thateffect. Data were gathered from 328 employees who are employed in various durablegoods manufacturing companies in organized industrial region in Ankara/Turkey. Theconsequences of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that ethical leadership wasrelated to trust both in leader and in organization. In accordance with the expectations,the results indicated that trust in leader partially mediated the relationship betweenethical leadership, organizational commitment, satisfaction from job, and organizationalcitizenship behavior. On the other hand, trust in organization partially mediated therelationship between citizenship behavior in organization, commitment and ethicalleadership. Contrary to the expectations, it was observed that the relationship betweenethical leadership and satisfaction from job was not mediated by trust in organization.