Ethical leadership in action: Understanding the mechanism of organizational justice and leaders’ moral identity

Jul 8, 2026

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The study examines how ethical leadership shapes employees’ ethical behavior through organizational justice as a psychological mechanism. Using a moderated mediation model, it tests whether leaders’ moral identity changes the strength of ethical leadership’s influence on ethical behavior via perceptions of justice. Data from 360 subordinate–supervisor pairs in a Saudi public organization show that ethical leadership improves ethical behavior and that organizational justice mediates this effect. The relationship is stronger when leaders display higher moral identity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

Abstract

Introduction

Research objective and theoretical framing

Key research gap and contributions

Research Article Ethical leadership in action: Understanding the mechanism of organizational justice and leaders’ moral identity Human Systems Management 2025, Vol. 44(3) 477–489 © The Author(s) 2024 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/01672533241295609](DOI: 10.1177/01672533241295609) [journals.sagepub.com/home/hsy](journals.sagepub.com/home/hsy) Homoud Alhaidan 1 􀀁 Abstract Background: Ethical leadership involves guiding and inﬂuencing others through actions rooted in honesty, integrity, fairness, and respect. It was crucial for building trust, fostering a positive organizational culture, motivating employees, managing risks, and ensuring long-term, sustainable success. Objective: The study of ethical leadership became central to understanding how leadership affected organizations. This study proposed that organizational justice was a psychological mechanism through which ethical leadership shaped individual ethical behavior. This study used a moderated mediation model, showing that a leader’s moral identity affects how ethical leadership inﬂuences employees’ ethical behavior through the concept of organizational justice. Methods: Data were collected from 360 subordinate-supervisor pairs within a prominent Saudi public organization. Results: The research revealed two key ﬁndings after analyzing data from 360 supervisor-subordinate pairings in different Saudi organizations. Firstly, ethical leadership positively impacted employee ethical behavior, and organizational justice mediated this relationship. Secondly, the effect of ethical leadership on employees’ ethical behavior was high when leaders showed higher moral identity. Conclusions: In conclusion, the study underscored the pivotal role of ethical leadership in shaping employees’ ethical behavior, mediated by organizational justice. It highlighted that leaders with a strong moral identity enhanced this effect, demonstrating the importance of fostering ethical leadership and justice within organizations to promote ethical conduct among employees. These insights offered valuable theoretical and practical implications for organizational development. Keywords ethical leadership, organizational justice, moral identity, ethical behavior, Saudi context Received: 28 June 2024; revised: 1 October 2024; accepted: 3 October 2024 Introduction In recent years, there was considerable media attention on corporate misconduct, wrongdoing, and corruption.1,2 This included instances such as creating ﬁctitious accounts and banks imposing unnecessary auto insurance on customers. To better understand the prevalence of unethical behaviors in workplaces, researchers focused on the moral conduct of employees and the role of ethical leadership (e.g., Udin3 and Ko et al.4) . While several studies indicated the importance of moral leadership in inﬂuencing employees’ moral conduct,5,6 what remained unclear and required further investigation were the mechanisms and conditions through which ethical leadership impacted employee ethical behavior.7,8 The main objective of this research was to delve into the mechanisms and contextual factors shaping the link between ethical leadership and employees’ ethical behavior. Speciﬁcally, it examined the mediating role of organizational justice, suggesting that these variables might either substitute for or complement each other in inﬂuencing the impact of ethical leadership on employee behavior (e.g., Babalola et al.9). In addition, the study investigated the leader’s moral identity as a potential boundary condition in a moderated mediation 1 Management and Information Systems Department, College of Business Administration, University of Ha’il, Hail, Saudi Arabia Corresponding author: Homoud Alhaidan, Management and Information Systems Department, College of Business Administration, University of Ha’il, MPC6+XG5, Hail

FAQs

What mechanism explains how ethical leadership influences employees’ ethical behavior?

The study proposes organizational justice as the psychological mechanism through which ethical leadership affects employees’ ethical behavior.

How does leaders’ moral identity affect the ethical leadership effect?

Leaders’ moral identity moderates the relationship, making the impact of ethical leadership on employees’ ethical behavior stronger when moral identity is higher.

What data and study context were used to test the model?

The analysis uses survey data from 360 subordinate–supervisor pairs within a prominent Saudi public organization.

Jul 8, 2026

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