Ethical Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: Mediation of Cognitive and Affect Based Trusts

Abstract

This study aims to examine the link between ethical leadership and four types of voice behaviors specifically focusing the mediating roles of two forms of trust, namely cognitive trust and affective trust. The concept of leadership has been explored from several perspectives but from ethical perspective it has been least investigated. Data was collected from 320 supervisors-follower dyads across different universities belonging to education sector. The results reveal that ethical leadership is positively related with constructive and supportive voice while negatively related with defensive and destructive voice. The study also found that affective and cognitive trust fully mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behaviors. The research added ample contribution to current leadership practices and implications for future research directions.