Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how leader integrity and ethical leadership can influence trust in the leader and employee work engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using an electronic web-based questionnaire completed by 204 employees from various business organisations. Data were analysed by means of item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis conducted via structural equation modelling.
Findings
High levels of reliability were found for the measurement scales. Good model fit was demonstrated for the measurement and structural models. Empirical support was found for all the postulated relationships in the structural model.
Originality/value
This study is the first to analyse the joint relationships between leader integrity and work engagement through the mediating role of ethical leadership (i.e. moral management) and trust in the leader. The findings emphasise the key role played by ethical leaders in creating an ethical and trusting work climate conducive for employee engagement.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article Amos S. Engelbrecht, Gardielle Heine and Bright Mahembe (2017) “Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement”, published in Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, did not reference two sources drawn upon. These were: Heine, G., “The Influence of Integrity and Ethical Leadership on Trust and Employee Work Engagement” (unpublished thesis: Stellenbosch University, 2013) and Engelbrecht, A.S, Heine, G. and Mahembe, B. (2014) “The influence of ethical leadership on trust and work engagement: an exploratory study”, SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 1, http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v40i1.1210. The author guidelines for Leadership & Organization Development state that articles must be fully referenced. The authors sincerely apologise for this.
Citation
Engelbrecht, A.S., Heine, G. and Mahembe, B. (2017), "Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 368-379. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-11-2015-0237
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited