Ethical leadership: Meta-analytic evidence of criterion-related and incremental validity.
Abstract
This study examines the criterion-related and incremental validity of ethical leadership (EL) with meta-analytic data. Across 101 samples published over the last 15 years (N = 29,620), we observed that EL demonstrated acceptable criterion-related validity with variables that tap followers' job attitudes, job performance, and evaluations of their leaders. Further, followers' trust in the leader mediated the relationships of EL with job attitudes and performance. In terms of incremental validity, we found that EL significantly, albeit weakly in some cases, predicted task performance, citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior-even after controlling for the effects of such variables as transformational leadership, use of contingent rewards, management by exception, interactional fairness, and destructive leadership. The article concludes with a discussion of ways to strengthen the incremental validity of EL. (PsycINFO Database Record
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Ethical leadership has incremental effects over transformational and transactional leadership on some general criteria beyond purely ethics-related outcomes.
“Ethical leadership has incremental effects over transformational leadership and transactional leadership on some general criteria beyond purely ethicsrelated outcomes (Ng & Feldman, 2015).”
From The evolution of leadership: Past insights, present trends, and future directions (2025) · cites this paper as Ng & Feldman, 2015
The mechanism of ethical leadership's effects has been explained by social learning and social exchange theories.
“The mechanism of its effects has been explained by social learning and social exchange theories (Banks et al., 2021; Brown et al., 2005; Ng & Feldman, 2015).”
From The evolution of leadership: Past insights, present trends, and future directions (2025) · cites this paper as Ng & Feldman, 2015
Cites
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999) · Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 · Cited by 108,788 · see citing works
Exchange and Power in Social Life
Blau, P. M. (2017) · doi:10.4324/9780203792643 · Cited by 15,923 · see citing works
Longshore, J. M., & Bass, B. M. (1987) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/258081 · Cited by 12,424 · see citing works
Assessing construct validity in organizational research
Bagozzi, R. P., Yi, Y., & Phillips, L. W. (1991) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393203 · Cited by 6,621 · see citing works
Methods of Meta-Analysis: Correcting Error and Bias in Research Findings
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (2015) · doi:10.4135/9781483398105 · Cited by 5,542 · see citing works
Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing
Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002 · Cited by 5,435 · see citing works
Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analytic Test of Their Relative Validity.
Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.755 · Cited by 4,464 · see citing works
Ethical leadership: A review and future directions
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.004 · Cited by 4,029 · see citing works
Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice.
Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. (2002) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.611 · Cited by 3,550 · see citing works
A Meta-Analysis of Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha
Peterson, R. A. (1994) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/209405 · Cited by 3,028 · see citing works
Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership.
Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J., Jung, D. I., & Berson, Y. (2003) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.207 · Cited by 3,026 · see citing works
Meta-Analytic review of leader–member exchange theory: Correlates and construct issues.
Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1997) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.82.6.827 · Cited by 3,005 · see citing works
The Organizational Bases of Ethical Work Climates
Victor, B. I., & Cullen, J. B. (1988) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2392857 · Cited by 2,610 · see citing works
Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior
Bass, B. M., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/s1048-9843(99)00016-8 · Cited by 2,528 · see citing works
Dulebohn, J. H., Bommer, W. H., Liden, R. C., Brouer, R. L., & Ferris, G. R. (2012) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206311415280 · Cited by 1,625 · see citing works
Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., Rodell, J. B., Long, D. M., Zapata, C. P., Conlon, D. E., & Wesson, M. J. (2013) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0031757 · Cited by 1,462 · see citing works
Treviño, L. K., Brown, M., & Hartman, L. P. (2003) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726703056001448 · Cited by 1,372 · see citing works
Iacobucci, D., Saldanha, N., & Deng, X. (2007) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/s1057-7408(07)70020-7 · Cited by 1,362 · see citing works
DERUE, D. S., NAHRGANG, J. D., WELLMAN, N., & HUMPHREY, S. E. (2011) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01201.x · Cited by 1,356 · see citing works
Wang, G., Oh, I.-S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011) · Group & Organization Management · doi:10.1177/1059601111401017 · Cited by 1,315 · see citing works
How bad are the effects of bad leaders? A meta-analysis of destructive leadership and its outcomes
Schyns, B., & Schilling, J. (2013) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.09.001 · Cited by 1,245 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Destructive leadership refers to leader behaviors that stifle the professional growth and development of followers or even hurt their well-being (Schyns & Schilling, 2013), such as being autocratic, despotic, or abusive.”
Harrison, D. A., Newman, D. A., & Roth, P. L. (2006) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2006.20786077 · Cited by 1,245 · see citing works
Leader-member exchange and citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis
Ilies, R., Nahrgang, J. D., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.269 · Cited by 1,210 · see citing works
Construct Validity: A Review of Basic Issues and Marketing Practices
Peter, J. P. (1981) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.2307/3150948 · Cited by 1,189 · see citing works
ORGANIZATION-BASED SELF-ESTEEM: CONSTRUCT DEFINITION, MEASUREMENT, AND VALIDATION.
Pierce, J. L., Gardner, D. G., Cummings, L. L., & Dunham, R. B. (1989) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.2307/256437 · Cited by 1,165 · see citing works
THEORY TESTING: COMBINING PSYCHOMETRIC META‐ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURAL EQUATIONS MODELING
VISWESVARAN, C., & ONES, D. S. (1995) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1995.tb01784.x · Cited by 926 · see citing works
Walumbwa, F. O., Mayer, D. M., Wang, P., Wang, H., Workman, K. M., & Christensen, A. L. (2010) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.11.002 · Cited by 899 · see citing works
Kalshoven, K., Den Hartog, D. N., & De Hoogh, A. H. B. (2011) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.12.007 · Cited by 824 · see citing works
The relationship between ethical leadership and core job characteristics
Piccolo, R. F., Greenbaum, R. L., Hartog, D. N. D., & Folger, R. G. (2010) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.627 · Cited by 815 · see citing works
Dudley, N. M., Orvis, K. A., Lebiecki, J. E., & Cortina, J. M. (2006) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.40 · Cited by 668 · see citing works
The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the Field
Neubert, M. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Roberts, J. A., & Chonko, L. B. (2009) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0037-9 · Cited by 620 · see citing works
Chang, C.-H. D., Rosen, C. C., & Levy, P. E. (2009) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2009.43670894 · Cited by 619 · see citing works
Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M. L., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2010) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-011-0794-0 · Cited by 601 · see citing works
Embedding Ethical Leadership within and across Organization Levels
Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W. J., Lord, R. G., Treviño, L. K., Dimotakis, N., & Peng, A. C. (2012) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0064 · Cited by 577 · see citing works
Tu, Y., & Lu, X. (2012) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1455-7 · Cited by 483 · see citing works
Podsakoff, P. M., Bommer, W. H., Podsakoff, N. P., & MACKENZIE, S. B. (2005) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.09.002 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Detert, J. R., Treviño, L. K., Burris, E. R., & Andiappan, M. (2007) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.993 · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Re-thinking ethical leadership: An interdisciplinary integrative approach
Eisenbeiss, S. A. (2012) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.03.001 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
Mahsud, R., YUKL, G. A., & Prussia, G. (2010) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683941011056932 · Cited by 323 · see citing works
The influence of authentic leadership behaviors on trust and work outcomes of health care staff
Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. G. (2009) · Journal of Leadership Studies · doi:10.1002/jls.20104 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Peter, J. P., & Churchill, G. A. (1986) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.2307/3151771 · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Virtue-based measurement of ethical leadership: The Leadership Virtues Questionnaire.
Riggio, R. E., Zhu, W., Reina, C. S., & Maroosis, J. A. (2010) · Consulting psychology journal · doi:10.1037/a0022286 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Encouraging employees to report unethical conduct internally: It takes a village
Mayer, D. M., Nurmohamed, S., Treviño, L. K., Shapiro, D. L., & Schminke, M. (2013) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.01.002 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Social Exchange in Work Settings: Content, Process, and Mixed Models
Shore, L. M., Coyle‐Shapiro, J. A., Chen, X.-P., & Tetrick, L. E. (2009) · Management and Organization Review · doi:10.1111/j.1740-8784.2009.00158.x · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Watson, D., O'Hara, M. W., Chmielewski, M., McDade-Montez, E. A., Koffel, E., Naragon, K., & Stuart, S. (2008) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0012570 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Suazo, M. M. (2009) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683940910928856 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective
Hansen, S. D., Alge, B. J., Brown, M. E., Jackson, C. L., & Dunford, B. B. (2012) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1408-1 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Lievens, F., & Patterson, F. (2011) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0023496 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
A Triad Model of Paternalistic Leadership: Constructs and Measurement
Farh, J.-L. L., Cheng, B., & Chou, L.-F. (2000) · Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Cortina, J. M., Goldstein, N. B., Payne, S. C., Davison, H. K., & Gilliland, S. W. (2000) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2000.tb00204.x · Cited by 187 · see citing works
The Influence of Ethical Leadership and Regulatory Focus on Employee Outcomes
Neubert, M. J., Wu, C., & Roberts, J. A. (2013) · Business Ethics Quarterly · doi:10.5840/beq201323217 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Fassina, N. E., Jones, D. A., & Uggerslev, K. L. (2007) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206307309260 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Self–Interest and Business Ethics: Some Lessons of the Recent Corporate Scandals
Carson, T. L. (2003) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1023/a:1023013128621 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Ethical leadership, moral equity judgments, and discretionary workplace behavior
Resick, C. J., Hargis, M. B., Shao, P. T., & Dust, S. B. (2013) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726713481633 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Raju, N. S., Burke, M. J., Normand, J., & Langlois, G. M. (1991) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.76.3.432 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Zona, F., Minoja, M., & Coda, V. (2012) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1294-6 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Duty orientation: Theoretical development and preliminary construct testing
Hannah, S. T., Jennings, P. L., Bluhm, D., Peng, A. C., & Schaubroeck, J. M. (2014) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.10.007 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
The Normative Foundations of Unethical Supervision in Organizations
Unal, A. F., Warren, D. E., & Chen, C. C. (2012) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1300-z · Cited by 75 · see citing works
The Future of the U.S. Business Model and the Rise of Competitors
Cappelli, P. H. (2009) · Academy of Management Perspectives · doi:10.5465/amp.2009.39985536 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
(Un)Ethical Leadership and Identity: What Did We Learn and Where Do We Go from Here?
Hunter, S. T. (2012) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1301-y · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A., & Welpe, I. M. (2010) · Zeitschrift für Psychologie · doi:10.1027/0044-3409/a000031 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Moral leadership and work performance
Wu, M. (2012) · Chinese Management Studies · doi:10.1108/17506141211236721 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
How Do Chinese Firms Deal with Inter-Organizational Conflict?
Mo, S., Booth, S. A., & Wang, Z. (2011) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-011-1066-8 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Rethinking ethical leadership, social capital and customer relationship
Zheng, Q., Wang, M., & Li, Z. (2011) · Journal of Management Development · doi:10.1108/02621711111150182 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Interpersonal affect and the assessment of and interrelationship between leadership constructs
Rowold, J., & Borgmann, L. (2014) · Leadership · doi:10.1177/1742715013486046 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Montano, D. (2016) · Industrial Health · doi:10.2486/indhealth.2015-0178 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Leadership, creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations
Hughes, D. J., Lee, A., Tian, A. W., Newman, A., & Legood, A. (2018) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.03.001 · Cited by 1,080 · see citing works
Chamberlin, M., Newton, D. W., & Lepine, J. A. (2017) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12185 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
Leadership, creativity and innovation: a meta-analytic review
Lee, A., Legood, A., Hughes, D., Tian, A. W., Newman, A., & Knight, C. (2020) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2019.1661837 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Lee, A., Lyubovnikova, J., Tian, A. W., & Knight, C. (2020) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1111/joop.12265 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
Leadership Styles: A Comprehensive Assessment and Way Forward
Fischer, T., & Sitkin, S. B. (2023) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2020.0340 · Cited by 303 · see citing works
Kuenzi, M., Mayer, D. M., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2020) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12356 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Moore, C., Mayer, D. M., Chiang, F. F. T., Crossley, C., Karlesky, M. J., & Birtch, T. A. (2018) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000341 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
Men, C., Fong, P. S. W., Huo, W., Zhong, J., Jia, R., & Luo, J. (2018) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-018-4027-7 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Sarwar, H., Ishaq, M. I., Amin, A., & Siddiqi, R. A. (2020) · Journal of Sustainable Tourism · doi:10.1080/09669582.2020.1788039 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
The within and cross domain effects of work-family enrichment: A meta-analysis
Zhang, Y. E., Xu, S., Jin, J., & Ford, M. T. (2017) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2017.11.003 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
A critique of the Leader-Member Exchange construct: Back to square one
Gottfredson, R. K., Wright, S. L., & Heaphy, E. D. (2020) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101385 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Reh, S., Tröster, C., & Quaquebeke, N. V. (2017) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000281 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Dust, S. B., Resick, C. J., Margolis, J. A., Mawritz, M. B., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2018) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.02.002 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Wang, Z., & Xu, H. (2017) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3563-x · Cited by 207 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship
Legood, A., van der Werff, L., Lee, A., & Den Hartog, D. (2021) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2020.1819241 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Trust Within the Workplace: A Review of Two Waves of Research and a Glimpse of the Third
Dirks, K. T., & Jong, B. A. D. (2021) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083025 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Liu, X., Xu, S., Yang, L.-Q., & Bednall, T. C. (2019) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206318823935 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., & Misati, E. (2017) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.11.013 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Schwepker, C. H., & Dimitriou, C. K. (2021) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102860 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Zhang, Y., Zheng, Y., Zhang, L., Xu, S., Liu, X., & Chen, W. (2021) · Asia Pacific Journal of Management · doi:10.1007/s10490-018-9639-z · Cited by 167 · see citing works
When computers take the lead: The automation of leadership
Wesche, J. S., & Sonderegger, A. (2019) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.027 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Leveraging the employee voice: a multi-level social learning perspective of ethical leadership
Bai, Y., Lin, L., & Liu, J. T. (2017) · The International Journal of Human Resource Management · doi:10.1080/09585192.2017.1308414 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Feng, J., Zhang, Y. E., Liu, X., Zhang, L., & Han, X. (2016) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3297-1 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Metwally, D., Ruiz‐Palomino, P., Metwally, M., & Gartzia, L. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02493 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Gerpott, F. H., Quaquebeke, N. V., Schlamp, S., & Voelpel, S. C. (2017) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3625-0 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Hiller, N. J., Sin, H.-P., Ponnapalli, A. R., & Ozgen, S. (2019) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.11.003 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Wang, Z., Xing, L., Xu, H., & Hannah, S. T. (2019) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04353-y · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Ethical leadership and work engagement
Ahmad, I., & Gao, Y. (2018) · Management Decision · doi:10.1108/md-02-2017-0107 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
A meta‐analytic test of the differential pathways linking ethical leadership to normative conduct
Peng, A. C., & Kim, D. (2020) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2427 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Babalola, M. T., Stouten, J., Euwema, M., & Ovadje, F. (2016) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206316638163 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Zheng, X., Qin, X., Liu, X., & Liao, H. (2017) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3683-3 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Toward a Better Understanding of Behavioral Ethics in the Workplace
Cremer, D. D., & Moore, C. (2019) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015151 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Kim, D., & Vandenberghe, C. (2020) · Group & Organization Management · doi:10.1177/1059601120920050 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Zheng, Y., Epitropaki, O., Graham, L., & Caveney, N. (2021) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/01492063211002611 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Ogunfowora, B., Maerz, A., & Varty, C. T. (2021) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2508 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Huang, N., Qiu, S., Yang, S., & Deng, R. (2021) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s311856 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
The evolution of leadership: Past insights, present trends, and future directions
Liden, R. C., Wang, X., & Wang, Y. (2025) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115036 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
How do employees react to leaders’ unethical behavior? The role of moral disengagement
Fehr, R., Fulmer, A., & Keng, F. T. (2019) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12366 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Byun, G., Karau, S. J., Dai, Y., & Lee, S. (2018) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.004 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Garba, O. A., Babalola, M. T., & Guo, L. (2017) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.10.018 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Fan, X., Li, J., Mao, Z., & Zheng-lan, L. (2021) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.11.006 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Ethical leadership, trust in organization and their impacts on critical hotel employee outcomes
Eluwole, K. K., Karatepe, O. M., & Avcí, T. (2022) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103153 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Wang, G., Van Iddekinge, C. H., Zhang, L., & Bishoff, J. (2019) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000345 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Abdullah, M. I., Dechun, H., Ali, M., & Usman, M. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02403 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Angels and Demons: The Effect of Ethical Leadership on Machiavellian Employees’ Work Behaviors
Belschak, F. D., Hartog, D. N. D., & Hoogh, A. H. B. D. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01082 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Ethical leadership, emotional leadership, and quitting intentions in public organizations
Ouakouak, M. L., Zaitouni, M., & Arya, B. (2020) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-05-2019-0206 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Cross-Cultural Leadership: What We Know, What We Need to Know, and Where We Need to Go
Hartog, D. N. D., & Hoogh, A. H. B. D. (2023) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-110721-033711 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Employee Entitlement, Engagement, and Performance: The Moderating Effect of Ethical Leadership
Joplin, T., Greenbaum, R. L., Wallace, J. C., & Edwards, B. (2019) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04246-0 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Christensen-Salem, A., Walumbwa, F. O., Babalola, M. T., Guo, L., & Misati, E. (2020) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04424-5 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
The problem of effect size heterogeneity in meta-analytic structural equation modeling.
Yu, J., Downes, P. E., Carter, K. M., & O’Boyle, E. H. (2016) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000141 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Hoang, G. T., Yang, M., & Tuấn, L. T. (2023) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103563 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
A fatal flaw: Positive leadership style research creates causal illusions
Fischer, T., Dietz, J., & Antonakis, J. (2024) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2023.101771 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Mostafa, A. M. S., Farley, S., & Zaharie, M. A. (2020) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04586-2 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Leadership and Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis
Cao, W., Li, P., van der Wal, R. C., & Taris, T. W. (2022) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-022-05184-0 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Servant leadership: The missing community component
Meuser, J. D., & Smallfield, J. (2022) · Business Horizons · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2022.07.002 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Eva, N., Newman, A., Miao, Q., Wang, D., & Cooper, B. K. (2018) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-018-3948-5 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Gok, K., Sumanth, J. J., Bommer, W. H., Demirtaş, Ö., Arslan, A., Eberhard, J., Özdemir, A. İ., & Yigit, A. (2017) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3655-7 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Relating ethical leadership with work engagement: How workplace spirituality mediates?
Adnan, N., Bhatti, O. K., & Farooq, W. (2020) · Cogent Business & Management · doi:10.1080/23311975.2020.1739494 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Ahmad, I., Gao, Y., Su, F., & Khan, M. K. (2021) · European Journal of Innovation Management · doi:10.1108/ejim-11-2020-0464 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Lee, J., Oh, S.-H., & Park, S. (2020) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04661-8 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Martín, S., Emich, K. J., McClean, E. J., & Woodruff, T. (2021) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04685-0 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Ethical leadership as a substitute for justice enactment: An information-processing perspective.
Koopman, J., Scott, B. A., Matta, F. K., Conlon, D. E., & Dennerlein, T. (2019) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000403 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Halbusi, H. A., Ruiz‐Palomino, P., Morales‐Sánchez, R., & Abdelfattah, F. (2021) · Ethics & Behavior · doi:10.1080/10508422.2021.1937628 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Mirroring the Boss: Ethical Leadership, Emulation Intentions, and Salesperson Performance
Badrinarayanan, V. A., Ramachandran, I., & Madhavaram, S. (2018) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-018-3842-1 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Knowledge hide and seek: Role of ethical leadership, self-enhancement and job-involvement
Agarwal, U. A., Gupta, M., & Cooke, F. L. (2021) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.074 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Nassif, A. G., Hackett, R. D., & Wang, G. (2020) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04491-8 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
How Does Ethical Leadership Trickle Down? Test of an Integrative Dual-Process Model
Wang, Z., Xu, H., & Liu, Y. (2016) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3361-x · Cited by 67 · see citing works
How Bad Apples Promote Bad Barrels: Unethical Leader Behavior and the Selective Attrition Effect
Cialdini, R. B., Li, Y. J., Samper, A., & Wellman, N. M. (2019) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04252-2 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Marquardt, D. J., Casper, W. J., & Kuenzi, M. L. (2020) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04524-2 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
van Aarde, N., Meiring, D., & Wiernik, B. M. (2017) · International Journal of Selection and Assessment · doi:10.1111/ijsa.12175 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Construct proliferation in leadership style research
Bormann, K. C., & Rowold, J. (2018) · Organizational Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/2041386618794821 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Qin, X., Huang, M., Hu, Q., Schminke, M. J., & Ju, D. (2017) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/0018726717734905 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
The impact of ethical leadership on employee creative deviance: the mediating role of job autonomy
Liu, X., Baranchenko, Y., An, F., Lin, Z., & Ma, J. (2020) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-01-2020-0026 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Kalra, A., Briggs, E., & Schrock, W. A. (2022) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.113344 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Gender and evaluations of leadership behaviors: A meta-analytic review of 50 years of research
Paustian‐Underdahl, S. C., Sockbeson, C. S., Hall, A. V., & Halliday, C. S. (2024) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2024.101822 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Ethical Climate at the Frontline: A Meta-Analytic Evaluation
Friend, S. B., Jaramillo, F., & Johnson, J. S. (2020) · Journal of Service Research · doi:10.1177/1094670519898261 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Egorov, M., Kalshoven, K., Verdorfer, A. P., & Peus, C. V. (2019) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-019-04178-9 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Hancock, A. J., Gellatly, I. R., Walsh, M. M., Arnold, K. A., & Connelly, C. E. (2021) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/01492063211050391 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Ethical leadership and employee task performance: examining moderated mediation process
Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2017) · Management Decision · doi:10.1108/md-09-2016-0627 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Bush, J. T., Welsh, D. T., Baer, M. D., & Waldman, D. A. (2020) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/peps.12386 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
The Impacts of Communication Ethics on Workplace Decision Making and Productivity
Alyammahi, A. H., Alshurideh, M. T., Kurdi, B. H. A., & Salloum, S. A. (2020) · Advances in intelligent systems and computing · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-58669-0_44 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Why so serious? A laboratory and field investigation of the link between morality and humor.
Yam, K. C., Barnes, C. M., Leavitt, K., Wei, W., Lau, J., & Uhlmann, E. L. (2019) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspi0000171 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Bormann, K. C. (2017) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2017.1331217 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Ethical leadership and work engagement: A moderated mediation model
Naeem, R. M., Weng, Q. D., Hameed, Z., & Rasheed, M. I. (2019) · Ethics & Behavior · doi:10.1080/10508422.2019.1604232 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Işık, A. N. (2020) · International Journal of Educational Leadership and Management · doi:10.17583/ijelm.2020.4114 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Mostafa, A. M. S. (2018) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2018.1470088 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Lee, J., Cho, J., Baek, Y., Pillai, R., & Oh, S. H. (2019) · Asia Pacific Journal of Management · doi:10.1007/s10490-018-9596-6 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
A Multilevel Trust-based Model of Ethical Public Leadership
Mozumder, N. A. (2016) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3341-1 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Kim, M., Ma, E., & Wang, L. (2022) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103356 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Kim, B., Kim, M., & Lee, J. (2025) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-025-05040-2 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Kleshinski, C. E., Wilson, K. S., Stevenson-Street, J. M., & Scott, B. A. (2020) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2019.0029 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Ma, E., Wang, D., Liang, W., & Liu, A. (2021) · Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research · doi:10.1177/10963480211019104 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Antecedents of ethical leadership: the theory of planned behavior
Rahaman, H., Stouten, J., & Guo, L. (2019) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-11-2018-0417 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Ethical Leadership and Young University Teachers’ Work Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Model
Zeng, J., & Xu, G. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17010021 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Kim, D., & Vandenberghe, C. (2021) · Leadership & Organization Development Journal · doi:10.1108/lodj-11-2020-0479 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Park, T., Park, S., & Barry, B. (2021) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2020.0251 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Sun, U. Y., Xu, H., Kluemper, D. H., McLarty, B. D., & Yun, S. (2024) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114531 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Mitonga-Monga, J., Flotman, A.-P., & Cilliers, F. (2016) · Journal of Psychology in Africa · doi:10.1080/14330237.2016.1208928 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
A Review of Ethical Leadership and Other Ethics- Related Leadership Theories
Ahmad, I., Gao, Y., & Hali, S. M. (2017) · European Scientific Journal ESJ · doi:10.19044/esj.2017.v13n29p10 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Kuenzi, M. L., Brown, M. E., Mayer, D. M., & Priesemuth, M. (2018) · Business Ethics Quarterly · doi:10.1017/beq.2018.14 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- University of Georgia (US)
- ORCID
- Ng, Thomas W. H.
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Published
- 2015-05
- Volume
- 100
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 948-965
- ISSN
- 0021-9010 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1854
- OpenAlex
- W1999123659
- Cited by
- 377
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 18
- FWCI
- 25.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- The HKU Scholars Hub (University of Hong Kong) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employee Performance and Leadership
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
- Keywords
- ethical leadership, criterion validity, incremental validity, employee attitudes, employee performance, leader evaluation, trust in leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, counterproductive work behavior, transformational leadership, interactional justice, destructive leadership, contingent reward
- MeSH terms
- Employment, Humans, Leadership, Morals
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review