Ethical Leadership and Employee Well-Being: The moderating effect of interaction with the manager

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to study the impact of ethical leadership on employee well-being and whether this relationship is moderated by interaction with the manager. The study sample consisted of 131 participants working in Portuguese organizations. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS and Macro Process. The results indicate that ethical leadership is positively and significantly associated with well-being and that interaction with the manager moderates this relationship. For participants with a high level of interaction with their manager, when compared to participants with a low level of interaction with their manager, ethical leadership is relevant to boosting their well-being. Interaction with the manager plays a crucial moderating role and can strengthen or weaken the relationship between ethical leadership and employee well-being. Therefore, for ethical leadership to reach its full potential, it is essential to ensure that interactions between leaders and employees are high quality and frequent.