Servant leadership and mistreatment at the workplace: mediation of trust and moderation of ethical climate
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 13 April 2021
Issue publication date: 6 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
With a foundation in social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between servant leadership and three types of workplace mistreatment – bullying, incivility and ostracism – while also considering a mediating role of trust in the leader and a moderating role of the ethical climate.
Design/methodology/approach
Three time-lagged sets of data (N = 431) were collected among employees working in various sectors.
Findings
Servant leadership relates significantly to trust in the leader, as well as to workplace bullying, incivility and ostracism. In turn, trust in the leader mediates the relationship between servant leadership and all three types of workplace mistreatment. The results also indicate the presence of moderated mediation, in that the indirect effect of servant leadership on workplace mistreatment is moderated by the ethical climate.
Originality/value
This study adds to extant research by examining the mediating mechanism of trust in leaders with servant leadership and workplace mistreatment, along with interactive effects of ethical climate.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Ethical approval: All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Citation
Haq, I.U., Raja, U., Alam, I., De Clercq, D. and Saleem, S. (2022), "Servant leadership and mistreatment at the workplace: mediation of trust and moderation of ethical climate", Personnel Review, Vol. 51 No. 3, pp. 1061-1084. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-04-2019-0172
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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