TY - JOUR
T1 - The Impact of Authoritarian Leadership on Ethical Voice
T2 - A Moderated Mediation Model of Felt Uncertainty and Leader Benevolence
AU - Zheng, Yuyan
AU - Graham, Les
AU - Farh, Jiing Lih
AU - Huang, Xu
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to sincerely thank Marisa Plater (Durham University) and Natalie Brown (Durham University) for their effort on data collection and kind support of this research.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - In a sample of 522 police officers and staff in an English police force, we investigated the role of authoritarian leadership in reducing the levels of employee ethical voice (i.e., employees discussing and speaking out opinions against unethical issues in the workplace). Drawing upon uncertainty management theory, we found that authoritarian leadership was negatively related to employee ethical voice through increased levels of felt uncertainty, when the effects of a motivational-based mechanism suggested by previous studies were controlled. In addition, we found that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee ethical voice via felt uncertainty is mitigated by higher levels of benevolent leadership. That is, when authoritarian leaders simultaneously exhibit benevolence, they are less likely to cause feelings of uncertainty in their followers who are then more likely to speak up about unethical issues. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
AB - In a sample of 522 police officers and staff in an English police force, we investigated the role of authoritarian leadership in reducing the levels of employee ethical voice (i.e., employees discussing and speaking out opinions against unethical issues in the workplace). Drawing upon uncertainty management theory, we found that authoritarian leadership was negatively related to employee ethical voice through increased levels of felt uncertainty, when the effects of a motivational-based mechanism suggested by previous studies were controlled. In addition, we found that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee ethical voice via felt uncertainty is mitigated by higher levels of benevolent leadership. That is, when authoritarian leaders simultaneously exhibit benevolence, they are less likely to cause feelings of uncertainty in their followers who are then more likely to speak up about unethical issues. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
KW - Authoritarian leadership
KW - Ethical voice
KW - Felt uncertainty
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070321714&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10551-019-04261-1
DO - 10.1007/s10551-019-04261-1
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85070321714
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 170
SP - 133
EP - 146
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - 1
ER -