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LODJ
40,5
534
Received 25 December 2018
Revised 11 May 2019
20 May 2019
Accepted 6 June 2019
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
Vol. 40 No. 5, 2019
pp. 534-547
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0143-7739
DOI 10.1108/LODJ-12-2018-0461
The impact of ethical leadership
style on job satisfaction
Mediating role of perception of Green
HRM and psychological safety
Ifzal Ahmad
Department of Business Management,
Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan, and
Waheed Ali Umrani
Department of Business Administration, Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose – Combining two distinct streams of research studies in leadership and organizational management
i.e. ethical leadership and Green human resource management (Green HRM) practices, the purpose of this
paper is to investigate the impact of ethical leadership style (ELS) on employees’ job satisfaction ( JS) with a
mediating role of Green HRM and psychological safety in health sector organizations.
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative methodology was adopted to achieve the aims of this
study. Data were collected through pencil/paper questionnaires from the respondents (n ¼ 177) working in a
public sector healthcare organization of Pakistan. Reliability and validity of measures were tested via AMOS
(18) software. Results of proposed hypotheses were tested via Preacher and Hayes (2008) macro of mediation.
Findings – Contrary to the first hypothesis, no evidence of the direct impact of ELS on employees’ JS was
found. However, the mediating roles of Green HRM and psychological safety were supported by the results.
Originality/value – Through this study, the authors have addressed three key gaps in the extant literature
of ELS and corporate social responsibility, i.e. exploring the underlying mechanism through which ELS leads
to important outcomes with two novel mediators, i.e. Green HRM and psychological safety, the role of ELS in
promoting Green HRM in organizations and evidence from a public sector health organization in a developing
country, Pakistan. Implications of the study are discussed.
Keywords Job satisfaction, Psychological safety, Ethical leadership style, Green HRM
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The various corporate scandals in the USA such as the BP oil spill, the case of Enron, and in
Pakistan, the cases of National Leasing Corporation and temporary closure of Coca Cola
factory, etc. have all underlined the importance of ethical leadership. Defined as “the
demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and
interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to subordinates through
two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making” (Brown et al., 2005, p. 120),”
ethical leadership is found to be impacting various key employees’ behavioral outcomes
such as employee well-being (Chughtai et al., 2015); academic citizenship behavior (Arain
et al., 2017); organizational citizenship behavior (Ahmad, Donia, Khan and Waris, 2018),
employee performance (Walumbwa et al., 2011), safety performance (Khan et al., 2018),
creative performance (Ahmad, Donia, Khan and Waris, 2018); and employees’ innovative
work behavior (Yindong and Xinxin, 2013), etc.
However, despite the burgeoning attention of research works on an ethical leadership style
(ELS), little focus has been given to investigate its impact on job satisfaction ( JS) that is the most
commonly used behavioral outcome in business research works (Vlachos et al., 2013).
This paper is the work of Dr Ifzal Ahmad and Dr Waheed Ali Umrani. The authors are thankful to the
anonymous respondents for filling the questionnaires.
Particularly, evidence from the occupational health sector in a developing country is negligible. Impact of
Some studies on ELS have been conducted in the past from developing country’s perspective, ELS on JS
such as Pakistan (e.g. Khan et al., 2018); however, in order to fully grasp its widespread
implications, studying ethical leadership more in different organizational settings has been
strongly encouraged by Brown and Mitchell (2010). To this backdrop, while keeping in view the
importance of ethical leadership and its impact on employees’ outcomes in the health sector is
imperative to understand (Kabene et al., 2006). Healthcare services are undergoing speedy 535
changes and transformation with the aim of enhancing the quality of service, satisfaction of
patients and enhancement of productivity (Bahcecik and Oztürk, 2003). It is argued that the role
of ethical leadership in a public sector health organization is even further important because
these leaders are the public servants, on the one hand, who provide healthcare services, whereas
on the other hand, they have to manage the teams working under their leadership with intense
pressure and workload. Furthermore, public sector health organizations are prone to public
scrutiny and even a small misbehavior or mistake results in strong backlash from public and
media. Due to these tremendous pressures, leadership in public healthcare sector is expected to
behave ethically and inculcate the same among their subordinates. Likewise, JS is a key
predictor of other important outcomes such as turnover (Hom and Griffeth, 1995); hence, various
key implications are expected from exploring this link.
Extant literature on ELS and employee outcomes has also explored various mediating
mechanisms, e.g. moral identity (Arain et al., 2017; Bavik et al., 2017); employee controlled
motivation (Bavik et al., 2017); trust (Xu et al., 2016); psychological contract fulfillment (Ahmad,
Donia, Khan and Waris, 2018); safety culture and safety consciousness (Khan et al., 2018);
leader–member exchange (Walumbwa et al., 2011); employee voice and psychological
ownership (Avey et al., 2012) and work-related stress (Elci et al., 2012), etc. Various authors
argue that there may be other important mediating mechanisms too through which ethical
leaders impact various behavioral outcomes (Ahmad and Zafar, 2018; Chughtai et al., 2015;
Khan et al., 2018). In light of this argument, it is believed that there are two key mediating
variables that will lead to enhanced JS of employees that are triggered via ELS, i.e. psychological
safety (PS) and Green human resource management (Green HRM) (Ahmad et al., 2018).
PS is a state of mind in which employee feel safe to share openly without the threat to
their career, status or job (Kahn, 1990). As ethical leaders are considered as the moral agents
of an organization (Xu et al., 2016), theorists suggest that this sense of morality will enhance
PS as they will believe that moral organizations do not backstab (Bauman and Skitka, 2012;
Khan et al., 2018). Past studies found that PS mediates the relationship between leadership
and creative problem solving (Carmeli et al., 2014) and creative performance (Ahmad, Donia
and Shahzad, 2018). However, despite its potential for the field of business management,
there is a paucity of research exploring the mediating role PS between ELS and outcomes.
Besides the mediating role of psychological safety, it is believed that the concept of Green
HRM will also have a strong potential to play mediating role between ELS and JS because
this concept also has its roots in ethics and morality (Renwick et al., 2016). Evolved from the
notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Green HRM are those policies and practices
that promote pro-environmental behaviors and the sustainable usage of organizational
resources (Opatha and Arulrajah, 2014). Organizations due to their negative impacts on the
environment are under intense pressure to adopt more pro-environmental business practices
and promote similar responsible behaviors among its employees ( Jabbour and Santos,
2008). Hence, the concept of Green HRM is gaining more relevance. Some studies have
recently started exploring this concept and its outcomes (see Dumont et al., 2017); however,
its full potential is yet to be explored (Shen et al., 2016).
Utilizing the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and supply-value fit theory (Edwards,
1996), this study attempts to fill the above-mentioned voids. Specifically, the study is
focused to investigate the direct relationships between the employee perception about ELS
LODJ of managers at various levels in the public sector health organizations and their JS.
40,5 Furthermore, the mediating role of Green HRM and PS between ELS and JS will also be
investigated. Social exchange theory explains how interpersonal relationships are initiated,
strengthened and developed that helps in explaining the relationships developed between
an employee and employer (Eisenberger et al., 1997). A key focus of the social exchange
theory is on the notion of reciprocity that compels individual to respond positively to the
536 favorable treatment (Blau, 1964). In a relationship with the managers in an organization,
employees will interpret their behaviors as an employer’s representation (Ahmad, Donia,
Khan and Waris, 2018). Previous studies suggested that the fair treatment and fair policies
and procedures will be reciprocated by the employees that will also enhance their ethical
behaviors (Walumbwa et al., 2011). This theoretical underpinning will also help explaining
the relationships proposed above.

Literature review
Ethical leadership and social exchange theory
Studies on the concept of ethical leadership are increasing due to its importance in the
aftermath of various corporate scandals around the world (Kalshoven et al., 2011). Similarly,
the importance of ethics, integrity and morality has also attracted burgeoning attention in
the field of leadership. Ethical leaders are expected to demonstrate and encourage high level
of morality and ethical practices (Ahmad et al., 2018). Ethical leaders promote and encourage
ethical behavior among employees through reward and discipline (Brown et al., 2005); hence,
it is a more transactional approach of promoting ethics and morality.
Various other leadership styles also have ethical dimensions, e.g. transformational
leadership or authentic leadership style (Kalshoven et al., 2011), etc.; however, an ELS is
differentiated because of the intensity and its supplementary emphasis on the ethics
(Yozgar and Mesekiran, 2016). Other authors, e.g. Brown and Treviñ (2006) also made
distinction between ELS and similar other styles by underlying the former’s dominance over
morality, ethics and fairness, etc. Studies suggest that ethical leaders are honest,
trustworthy, fair and moral that embodies leaders’ personality traits, character and humane
intentions (Brown and Treviñ, 2006). These authors have also underlined the importance of
moral manager that shape followers’ behaviors through intentional promotion of moral
modeling, rewarding such exhibitions and punishing the contrary.
Explaining the process through which ethical leaders influence employees’ attitudes and
behaviors such as JS, social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) is the best underlying mechanism.
The notion of reciprocity in the social exchange theory implicates that managers’ fair treatment
of employees will compel them to return the same response in the form of various positive
behaviors that will enhance their JS (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). Social exchange theorists
also argue that the intensity of response would amplify if they see that their managers’ ethical
behaviors are discretionary rather than circumstantial (Eisenberger et al., 1997). Studies suggest
that leader’s actions reflect organization’s policies such that “in the working relationship
between leaders and followers, leaders represent the personal actualization of otherwise
abstract, impersonal existence of the organization” (Wieseke et al., 2009, p. 126). Such behavior
will signal that the managers are genuine and they really value employees’ contributions.

Ethical leadership and job satisfaction

Locke (1976) defined JS as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the
appraisal of one’s job or job experience” (p. 1300). Past studies in leadership research have
found support for influence on JS. For example, after a review of many articles, Holtom et al.
(2008) said that leadership/or supervision does impact JS. Other leadership styles that have
similar characteristics of ethics such as the charismatic leadership style reveal its positive
relationship with JS (see Vlachos et al., 2013).
 Utilizing the social exchange theory, it is contended that as ethical leaders are considered Impact of
to be fair, moral and genuine, they will treat employees fairly. They will also promote and ELS on JS
encourage such behaviors at work backed up by reward and discipline (Brown et al., 2005).
Such leaders will also be open in communication and interaction with their subordinates
(Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978) that, in turn, will affect their job attitudes. Demonstration of
such behaviors by managers will include proper pay and work conditions, equal
opportunities of career development, fair appraisal, ensuring health and safety of employees 537
and decisions of promotions on merit, etc. (Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018). Therefore,
such fair treatments with employees will influence their appraisals of their jobs more
positively as reciprocity. They will start believing that their managers are ethical and moral
people; therefore, they will feel that their job conditions are favorable and that their
managers will fulfill their commitments (Ahmad, Donia, Khan and Waris, 2018). Research
suggests that favorable job conditions enhance JS (Eisenberger et al., 1997). Therefore:
H1. ELS will have positive impact on JS.

Ethical leadership, psychological safety and job satisfaction

As explained earlier, psychological safety is the state of mind where employees feel safe to
share their inner self without the worries of negative reactions and risk to their job, status or
image (Kahn, 1990). Psychological safety has an intrinsic element of trust that means that
employees will feel safe if they trust their organizations and perceive them as supportive
(Edmondson, 1999). The term safe means that employees will feel psychologically safe to
share their ideas without the worries of negative consequences (Kahn, 1990). For example, one
may form a judgment that if he takes a certain step, will he be punished, shamed or hurt? If the
answers for such questions are no, it would mean that he is feeling psychologically safe. Past
studies suggest that psychological safety enhances work engagement (May et al., 2003) and
creativity (Kessel et al., 2012; Ahmad, Donia, Khan and Waris, 2018).
Similarly, studies also found that employees will feel psychologically safe if they think
that their organizations are moral and ethical (Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018). It is
argued that the managers of an organization exhibit and carry organizational values.
Therefore, while interpreting the managers’ behaviors, employees would feel that their
behaviors are coming directly from the organization (Khan et al., 2018; Vlachos et al., 2013).
Past studies suggest that managers and leaders influence employees’ health, well-being and
stress (Arnold et al., 2007). If leaders influence employees positively, this expression will
enhance their self-expression of values which consequently will affect their self-esteem and
meaningfulness at work (Shamir et al., 1993).
Furthermore, studies have also found that leaders’ emotion directly influences employees’
mood at work which is the emotional side of cognition (Ahmad et al., 2015). Hence, leaders’
emotions are contagious which are transferred to employees (Avey et al., 2012). Therefore,
ethical managers and leaders who demonstrate high standards of ethics, morality and fairness
will influence employees’ attitudes such as PS. The reason is that employees working with
such leaders will think that moral and ethical leaders do not stab in the back. They will think
that moral leaders seldom cheat (Bauman and Skitka, 2012), and hence, it is safe to work with
such leaders without the fear of threat to their status, image or career.
Studies on the notion of psychological safety suggest that it can influence employees’
creativity (Carmeli et al., 2014), team performance (Edmondson, 1999) and employee
engagement (May et al., 2004). It is believed that psychologically safe employee will be more
satisfied at work because he/she will have the autonomy and freedom on their jobs and
tasks associated with it (Avey et al., 2012). Extant literature on JS found a positive
relationship between increased effort and performance ( Judge et al., 2000). Ethical leaders
are likely to foster psychological safety among employees for the reason stated earlier.
LODJ We build our argument on the social exchange theory that has the notion of reciprocity.
40,5 Furthermore, psychological safety has the notion of trust associated with it, an important
notion in the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964). Using similar premise, Bauman and Skitka
(2012) argued that the belief in other party (manager/leaders in this case) as moral is
essential for enhancing their sense of security and trust.
Past studies suggested that psychological safety mediates the relationship between
538 corporate ethics and ethical judgment of earning management (Zhang, 2016) and between CSR
and employees’ creative performance (Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018). It is posited that
ethical leader’s choices of engagement with employees on the basis of fairness, equality and
truthfulness will lead to enhanced PS (Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018). As psychological
safety goes a step forward than the trust (Edmondson, 1999), this feeling of safety will lead to
greater involvement in job and greater ownership as a reciprocity that means greater JS.
Researchers working on various characteristics of job also support this contention that the
feeling of ownership given to them by the ethical leaders is creating a sense of autonomy
(Avey et al., 2012) which is a strong predictor of JS (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). Hence,
psychological safety will carry over the effect of ELS on JS. Therefore:
H2. Psychological safety will mediate the relationship between ELS and JS.

Mediating role of Green HRM

The topic of climate change has become the talk of the town because of its negative
repercussions on the eco-system and human health (Robertson and Barling, 2012). According to
the “Global Climate Risk Index (CRI),” the number of casualties is on the rise worldwide because
of the increased number of storms, floods, heat waves, etc. For example, Pakistan (the focal
country of this study) has lost 10,462 lives to climate-related disasters in the last 20 years with a
loss of US$3.8bn to the economy (Abubakar, 2017). Studies suggest that human behaviors are
responsible for adding up to the climate change such as water and air pollution and the
depletion of resources through its wastage, etc. (Lehman and Gellar, 2004). Organizations are
further compromising the health of its employees through its relentless use of electricity and
computer emissions, thus doubling the carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Consequently, these
organizations are under tremendous pressure to adopt such strategies that can promote pro-
environmental behaviors among its employees, and therefore, their HR processes must be
shaped in such a way that reflects sustainability in all its practices ( Jackson and Seo, 2010).
Green HRM is defined by Kramer (2014) as those “HRM activities which enhance positive
environmental outcomes” (p. 1075). Among the many practices under the concept of Green
HRM are assessing pro-environmental values of candidates at the time of recruitment and
selection, assessing employees’ green contribution during performance appraisal and
promotions, offering training and development on awareness regarding green practices, etc.
(Renwick et al., 2013). The purpose of Green HRM is to reduce carbon emissions, minimize
waste and behave responsibly while striving for profitability (Shen et al., 2016). The concept
of Green HRM and its impacts on employee outcomes have not been fully explored and the
notion is in its nascent stages of development (Dumont et al., 2017). Past studies suggest that
HR has the ability to shape and measure individuals’ pro-environmental behaviors
(Boudreau and Ramstad, 2005). This assumption is based on the fact that employees spend
one-third of their daily time in organizations, and therefore, such policies and practices that
shape employees’ pro-environmental behaviors will have long lasting effects (Blok et al.,
2014). Hence, Green HRM has a significant role to play in changing individual behaviors.
While proposing for the mediating role of Green HRM between ELS and JS, the
supply-value fit theory (Edwards, 1996) seems well-suited here. The theory argues that if the
values proposed by the organizations are in line with the personal values of individual, it will
have positive impacts on their attitudes and behaviors. Studies further suggest that the
stronger an individual relate its values with the organizations’, the better will be their
commitment to organizational goals and objectives (Cohen and Liu, 2011). Recent studies have Impact of
found that employees make explicit attributions of organization’s socially responsible ELS on JS
behaviors which determines that whether their psychological needs are fulfilled or not
(Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018). Studies also found that HRM practices may also influence
employees’ attitudes and behaviors through distinct psychological processes (Shen et al.,
2016). Therefore, organizations promoting Green HRM practices will be also be judged and if
these practices are found to be congruent with the individual values, it is expected that 539
employees will make positive judgments that will consequently trigger their positive attitudes
and behaviors. As ethical leaders promote and behave responsibly while keeping high moral
values and treat employees fairly, they will also promote responsible HR practices, i.e. Green
HRM. Consequently, employees while experiencing the promotion of sustainable practices
such as training and development on pro-environmental behaviors, rewards based on their
pro-environmental contributions, etc., will relate these as the work of ethical leaders in their
organization. Past studies suggest that employees feel proud to be associated with responsible
organizations (Ahmad, Donia and Shahzad, 2018; Farooq et al., 2014). They will feel that their
expected values are in congruence with the organizations, and hence, their association with
the organization will be further strengthened. Resultantly, employees will feel more satisfied
for being a member of responsible organization and having an association with moral and
ethical leader that will consequently enhance their JS. Therefore:
H3. Green HRM will mediate the relationship between ELS and employees’ JS.

Methodology
A survey technique was adopted for collecting the data through a paper pencil
questionnaire. A convenience sampling technique was adopted where the target population
were employees working in public sector health organizations of Pakistan. This technique
was adopted because of the busy schedule of the health professionals and their
unavailability at times for data collection. There are a number of public sector health
organizations (hospitals) in Pakistan however, for this study, the authors choose to collect
the data from one of the largest hospitals in the capital city (Islamabad) of Pakistan. As the
structure, policies and culture of public sector hospitals in Pakistan are the same, data from
any organization are assumed to be a representation of the overall population. According to
the official website of the federal hospital under study, there are around 1,800 employees
working on various positions including executive director, consultants, specialists, medical
and non-medical staff including nurses and administration. As employees work in various
shifts and days (as per their rota), at a time, only 500–600 staff are expected to be available
on one particular day. Besides, staff on blue color jobs and with qualification less than
intermediate (Grade 12) were deliberately not included in the sample as they were unable to
read, write or understand the questionnaire in English. This technique was employed
previously in Pakistan as English is official language of organizations in Pakistan ( for
details, see Khan et al., 2018; Raja et al., 2004).
Employees volunteered to participate in this study, and they were assured complete
anonymity and confidentially. The questionnaire included items measuring demographic
information and the four variables under study, i.e., ELS, psychological safety, Green HRM
and JS. Respondents were asked to rate their immediate supervisor’s leadership style and their
own (employees’) PS and JS. They were also asked to rate their organizations’ HRM practices
on a scale of Green HRM. The items for these four variables were measured via Likert scale
where participants responded to all the items on a scale from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to
5 ¼ strongly disagree. A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed out of which 217 were
received back. Among these, 177 complete questionnaires were shortlisted for final analyses
as the rest of them were either incomplete or majority of items were rated twice or thrice.
LODJ Among the participants, it was noted that the 22 percent participants fell in the age range of
40,5 21–30 years, 32.8 percent were in the range of 31–40 years, 29.4 percent were in age range of
41–50 years and 15.4 percent were 51+ years of age. Similarly, 68.4 percent of respondents were
male, whereas 31.6 percent were female. Finally, 15.8 percent of the respondent had a minimum
qualification of 12th grade and 42.4 percent were graduate, whereas, 41.8 percent were having a
qualification of post-graduation. Mean, standard deviations and correlation are given in Table I.
540 Measures
Ethical leadership style
For measuring ELS, the most commonly used scale of Brown et al. (2005) was adopted. This
is a one-dimensional scale comprised of ten items. Cronbach’s α was recorded as 0.96. A
sample item from the scale is “My leader/manager makes fair and balanced decisions.”

Psychological safety
Similarly, the scale for measuring psychological safety was adopted from Carmeli et al.
(2010) which are based on Edmondson’s (1999) work. It is a five items’ scale with and sample
item is “It is safe to take a risk in this organization.” The Cronbach’s α for this scale was
recorded as 0.93.

Green HRM
For measuring Green HRM, the scale developed by Dumont et al. (2017) was adopted. It is a
six items scale and a sample item is “My Company sets green goals for its employees.” The
Cronbach’s α coefficient for this scale was recorded as 0.91.

Job satisfaction
Finally, the scale for JS was adopted from Eisenberger et al. (1997). It is a four items’ scale
with a sample item “All in all, I am very satisfied with my current job.” The Cronbach’s α for
this scale was recorded as 0.80.

Results and discussion

Results of measurement model
To assess the adequacy of the scales used, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed
using AMOS. CFA was performed on four factors i.e. ELS, Green HRM, PS and JS. The results
(see Table II) indicate that the data fit the measurement model well keeping in light the overall
recommendations of Hair et al. (2010) i.e. χ2 ¼ 527.62, ( po0.05); χ2/df ¼ 1.96 (o2); TLI ¼ 0.92
(W0.90); CFI ¼ 0.93 (W0.90); RMSEA ¼ 0.07 (o0.08). Similarly, all indicators on each
construct loaded well above the minimum threshold value (Hair et al., 2010) thereby achieving
convergent validity. The minimum value recorded for a factor was 0.67 that was the only item
below 0.7. The average variance extracted (AVE) was also well above 0.5 which is the

Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Age 2.4 1 –
2 Gender 1.3 0.47 0.36** –
3 Education 2.3 0.71 0.41** −0.04 –
4 ELS 3.6 0.99 −0.00 0.07 −0.10 –
5 PS 3.6 0.87 −0.06 0.06 −0.08 0.34** –
6 JS 3.8 0.64 −0.04 0.09 −0.11 0.24** 0.27** –
Table I. 7 GHRM 3.4 0.93 0.04 −0.01 0.02 0.78** 0.26** 0.28** –
Means, SD and Notes: ELS, ethical leadership style; PS, psychological safety; JS, job satisfaction; GHRM, Green HRM.
correlations *,**Significant at 0.05 and 0.01 levels, respectively
Item number SFL α CR AVE
Impact of
ELS on JS
Ethical leadership style (ELS) 0.96 0.95 0.87
ELS1 0.88
ELS2 0.84
ELS3 0.86
ELS4 0.87
ELS5 0.88 541
ELS6 0.88
ELS7 0.90
ELS8 0.90
ELS9 0.90
ELS10 0.74
Psychological safety (PS) 0.93 0.92 0.86
PS1 0.90
PS2 0.89
PS3 0.90
PS4 0.86
PS5 0.82
Green HRM 0.91 0.80 0.63
GHRM1 0.81
GHRM2 0.77
GHRM3 0.77
GHRM4 0.80
GHRM5 0.78
GHRM6 0.84
Job satisfaction ( JS) 0.80 0.73 0.71
JS1 0.67
JS2 0.70
JS3 0.73 Table II.
JS4 0.77 Factor loadings,
Notes: SFL, standard factors loading; CR, construct reliability; AVE, average variance extracted. χ2 ¼ 527.62, reliabilities and
( p o0.05); χ2/df ¼ 1.96 ( o2); TLI ¼ 0.92 (W0.90); CFI ¼ 0.93 (W0.90); RMSEA ¼ 0.07 (o0.08) validity results

minimum value to be met. Likewise, the construct reliability (CR) value for each latent variable
was also well above the minimum required value of 0.7. Therefore, the requirements for both
convergent and discriminant validity were satisfied by all the variables.

Results for hypotheses

Following CFA, the bootstrap technique was employed to test the results of our proposed
hypotheses utilizing the macro of mediation introduced by Preacher and Hayes (2008). It is a
powerful technique to control the effects of type 1 error (MacKinnon et al., 2002) and is more
effective for testing the mediating model as opposed to Sobel’s test that is comparatively
conservative and low power (MacKinnon et al., 1995). To run the test, a recommended 5,000
bootstrap sample was selected for running the test. The results are given in Table III.
In H1, the direct effect of ELS on JS was proposed. The results do not support this
hypothesis (estimate (β) ¼ −0.0063, pW 0.01). Furthermore, the result for H2, i.e. mediating
role of psychological safety between ELS and JS was supported (estimate (β) ¼ 0.0570,
SE ¼ 0.0263, ULCI ¼ 0.1262, LLCI ¼ 0.0180) with p o0.01. As ULCI and LLCI values do not
have a zero in between, this confirms that PS mediates the relationship between ELS and JS.
Finally, for H3, the mediating role of Green HRM between ELS and JS was also supported
by the results (estimate (β) ¼ 0.1790, SE ¼ 0.0744, ULCI ¼ 0.3173, LLCI ¼ 0.0149).
Furthermore, ULCI and LLCI are non-zero values; therefore, this confirms that Green
HRM mediates the relationship between ELS and JS (Figure 1).
LODJ Bias corrected conf.
40,5 interval (CI)
Models IV and DV Mediator(s) DATA (point estimates) BOOT SE LLCI ULCI

Model 1 ELS→JS PS 0.0570** 0.0568 0.0263 0.0180 0.1262

Green HRM 0.1790** 0.1692 0.0774 0.0149 0.3173
Total indirect effect 0.2359** 0.2259 0.0794 0.0613 0.3711
542 Direct effect on JS −0.0063 – 0.0752 – –
Total effect on JS 0.2296** – 0.0482 – –
2
R 0.2121**
Adj R2 0.1984**
Table III. Notes: ELS, ethical leadership style; JS, job satisfaction; PS, psychological safety; GHRM, Green HRM.
Results for hypotheses *,**Significant at 0.05 and 0.01 levels, respectively

PS

0.299** 0.156**
0.057**

ELS –0.0063 JS

0.179**
0.831** 0.139*

GHRM
Figure 1.
Conceptual framework Notes: ELS, ethical leadership style; PS, psychological safety; JS, job
and results of
hypotheses satisfaction; GHRM, green HRM. *,**Significant at 0.05 and 0.01
levels, respectively

Discussion and theoretical implications

Although many researchers have worked on ethics of leadership, ELS has comparatively
received little systematic attention in the occupational psychology field, particularly from
developing countries’ perspective with a specific focus on healthcare industry. Likewise, is
the case of mediating paths of ELS and its outcomes. It is believed that ethical leadership
maintains high level of integrity, moral values and fairness in their decisions for achieving
the organization’s goals more effectively. Such leaders provide trust, moral standards,
advocating the ideological vision and values of the organization, encouraging subordinates
to behave responsibly and rewarding such behaviors (Brown et al., 2005). Exercising such
behaviors are essential for organization’s sustained profitability, enhancing employees’
performance and even sustained competitive advantage (Yozgar and Mesekiran, 2016).
To this backdrop, this study was focused on investigating the impact of ELS on
employees’ JS (H1) and the mediating roles of psychological safety (H2) and Green HRM (H3)
between ELS and JS. Contrary to my first hypothesis, my findings suggest that ELS does not
have a significant direct impact on JS. This finding is new and is not in line with the previous
studies where the author studied the same relation in other contexts and backgrounds
(e.g. Arain et al., 2017; Yozgar and Mesekiran, 2016). Hence, an important implication is that it
may not justify the generalizability of ELS and that the characteristics of an ethical leader
may not be universally understood and perceived equally in the healthcare sector. This
finding in itself is novel and interesting in the sense that ethical leaders as perceived in the
healthcare sector may carry other key characteristics as opposed to the one explained by
Brown et al. (2005). Another explanation of this result may be that ethical leaders are perceived Impact of
to be ethical due to their actions and behaviors that play intermediaries in reaching to the ELS on JS
employees such as the mediating role of psychological safety and Green HRM in our case.
Moreover, the author also found support for the mediating role of psychological safety and
between ELS and JS. This result is also in line with the previous studies where authors
suggested that psychological safety is necessary for creative performance (Ahmad, Donia and
Shahzad, 2018; Carmeli et al., 2014). The feeling of safety at work will enhance employees’ 543
satisfaction because they will believe that it’s ok to make mistakes in order to bring unique
solutions to the challenging problems. They will feel secure from any negative reactions of
management (Kahn, 1990) which enhances their JS. This is also a valuable addition in the
extant literature on ethical leadership which will hopefully open up new avenues of research in
future. Implication of this result is the additional proof of the importance of psychological
safety in the organization. Previous studies have found its impact on other key variables (e.g.
academic citizenship behavior by Arain et al., 2017) and creative performance by Ahmad,
Donia and Shahzad (2018); however, it can also help in enhancing JS which is a key predictor of
reducing turnover (Hom and Griffeth, 1995). Thus, enhanced importance of psychological
safety is further underlined. This is also novel contribution which suggests that for enhancing
JS, the enhancement of psychological safety is important. Another implication of this finding is
that psychological safety was mainly studied with creativity; however, this notion can impact
other key outcomes too, which suggests that psychological safety of employees is also
important underlying mechanism that can lead to important positive behavioral outcomes.
Finally, another novel contribution of this study is testing the mediating role of Green HRM
between ELS and JS. No past study to the best of author’s knowledge has tested the mediating
role of Green HRM. This is the first study which has tested and verified that Green HRM may
play key underlying mechanism in triggering positive behaviors among employees. This
study, therefore, addresses the call for studying Green HRM in various contexts with green as
well as non-green behaviors of employees (Dumont et al., 2017). Another implication to be
noted from this result is that an ELS is an antecedent of Green HRM and people expect that
ethical leaders will also promote environmental friendly policies and practices within their
organization. Furthermore, Green HRM can lead to JS that suggests that pro-environmental
policies and practices in the organizations have an intrinsic advantage of triggering positive
non-green behaviors among employees, particularly, in the healthcare industry.

Managerial implications
Several managerial implications can also be noted from this study. First of all, the ELS is found
to be appropriate for the employees of public sector healthcare organizations. It was found that
employees note and respond to the treatment they receive from their leaders/managers. Hence,
leaders/managers must be cautious about their behavior at work. A more positive, fair and
ethical behavior will trigger more positive responses. Second, it was also found that ELS will
serve as important antecedent of PS which suggest that if an organization wants to enhance its
employees’ PS, their managers must demonstrate ethical behaviors. Studies suggest that
enhanced PS will lead to other key outcomes such as creative performance (Carmeli et al.,
2014), team performance (Edmondson, 1999) employee engagement (May et al., 2004), etc.
The findings also suggest that employees’ JS which is a key antecedent of other
important behaviors such as turnover intention, enhanced job performance, etc. (Vlachos
et al., 2013) can also be achieved through demonstrating ethical behavior at work. Hence, one
way of achieving JS among employees which is among the main objectives of any HR
department of any organization is to promote and encourage ELS among its management.
This importance increases manifold when it comes to the healthcare sector due to the
shortage of senior and competent doctors in the country. Such behavior will not only
improve employees’ JS, but it will also help in retaining talented people at work thereby,
LODJ enhancing their performance (Carmeli et al., 2014). Likewise, this study also highlights the
40,5 importance of ethical and moral values in the organization. Given that leaders’ behaviors are
considered as organizational behavior such that leaders are considered as representatives of
organizational policies and practices (Aselage and Eisenberger, 2003); therefore, a feeling of
greater satisfaction and pride at work will arise among employees if the leaders demonstrate
ethical and moral behavior at work.
544 Another practical implication is that being an ethical leader, employees expect that policies
and practices of HR department will be pro-environmental, i.e. Green HRM, which leads to
positive employee behaviors. Therefore, managers must not only display more ethical leadership
but they can enhance employees’ JS via promoting Green HRM within the organizations.

Conclusion and future recommendations

Several limitations must be kept in mind while interpreting the results of this study. First,
data were cross-sectional in nature which may have the risk of common method bias. Future
studies may test a similar model in a more longitudinal study for generalization of these
findings. Second, the focus of the study was public sector health organizations where a more
bureaucratic style of management exists. Future studies may conduct similar research on
private sector organizations to see if the results may be similar or different. Finally, only two
mediating variables i.e. psychological safety and Green HRM were tested between the
relationship of ELS and JS. Future studies may also test other mediating variables such as
psychological contract fulfillment, perceived organizational support and authenticity, etc.

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Further reading
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Corresponding author
Ifzal Ahmad can be contacted at: ifzalmdn@gmail.com

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