Investigating the Role of Ethical Leadership on Employee Innovativeness through Bottom-Up Job Redesigning: Self-Leadership as a Catalyst

Abstract

In contemporary studies, leadership has been frequently highlighted as an important aspect in facilitating innovative work behavior (IWB) in ever-changing organizations. Drawn on social learning theory, this research investigated the influence of ethical leadership (EL) on employee’s innovative behaviors (IWB). The relationship between ethical leadership (EL) and employee innovative behavior (IWB) is mediated by job crafting (JC), with the moderating role of self-leadership (SL) also being studied. In total, 370 valid responses were retrieved from the service industry of Zhejiang province in China. The study used Mplus 8.0 to run the moderated mediation model. It is found that ethical leadership (EL) is positively linked with innovative work behavior (IWB) and job crafting (JC). Subsequently, the study also found that job crafting (JC) is significantly related to innovative work behavior (IWB). Additionally, the study confirms that job crating (JC) significantly mediates the relationship between ethical leadership (EL) and innovative work behavior (IWB). Additionally, the study reveals that a high level of self-leadership (SL) strengthens the association between ethical leadership (EL) and job crafting (JC).