Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The role of ethical leadership in enhancing exploitative and explorative learning simultaneously: what does it matter if employees view work as central?

The role of ethical leadership in enhancing exploitative and explorative learning simultaneously:... The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that ethical leadership positively contributes to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and then examine the moderating role of work centrality in the relationships of ethical leadership with exploitative learning and explorative learning.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged survey data were collected from 257 middle managers and their 257 immediate supervisors in 76 firms in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results revealed that ethical leadership positively contributed to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously. Importantly, the authors found that work centrality strengthened the positive relationships of ethical leadership with both exploitative learning and explorative learning.Practical implicationsThe findings can help organizations enhance exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and enable them to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.Originality/valueAlthough explorative learning and exploitative learning together constitute fundamental resources for organizations' long-term success, prior research has not looked into whether and when leader behaviors facilitate explorative learning and exploitative learning simultaneously. The study contributed to fill this gap by introducing ethical leadership, signifying its positive role in enhancing both explorative learning and exploitative learning, and establishing work centrality as a moderator to reinforce these two positive relationships. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Personnel Review Emerald Publishing

The role of ethical leadership in enhancing exploitative and explorative learning simultaneously: what does it matter if employees view work as central?

Download PDF
18 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/the-role-of-ethical-leadership-in-enhancing-exploitative-and-0SzLrbSEa9
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
0048-3486
DOI
10.1108/pr-12-2019-0708
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that ethical leadership positively contributes to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and then examine the moderating role of work centrality in the relationships of ethical leadership with exploitative learning and explorative learning.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged survey data were collected from 257 middle managers and their 257 immediate supervisors in 76 firms in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results revealed that ethical leadership positively contributed to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously. Importantly, the authors found that work centrality strengthened the positive relationships of ethical leadership with both exploitative learning and explorative learning.Practical implicationsThe findings can help organizations enhance exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and enable them to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.Originality/valueAlthough explorative learning and exploitative learning together constitute fundamental resources for organizations' long-term success, prior research has not looked into whether and when leader behaviors facilitate explorative learning and exploitative learning simultaneously. The study contributed to fill this gap by introducing ethical leadership, signifying its positive role in enhancing both explorative learning and exploitative learning, and establishing work centrality as a moderator to reinforce these two positive relationships.

Journal

Personnel Review – Emerald Publishing

Published: Mar 29, 2022

Keywords: Ethical leadership; Exploitative learning; Explorative learning; Work centrality

References

  • Ethical leadership and knowledge hiding: a moderated mediation model of relational social capital, and instrumental thinking
    Abdullah, M.I.; Dechun, H.; Ali, M.; Usman, M.
  • Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach
    Anderson, J.C.; Gerbing, D.W.
  • Ethical leadership and knowledge hiding: an intervening and interactional analysis
    Anser, M.K.; Ali, M.; Usman, M.; Rana, M.L.T.; Yousaf, Z.
  • The mind is willing, but the situation constrains: why and when leader conscientiousness relates to ethical leadership
    Babalola, M.T.; Bligh, M.C.; Ogunfowora, G.; Garba, O.A.
  • The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance
    Baker, W.E.; Sinkula, J.M.
  • The relations between work centrality, psychological contracts, and job attitudes: the influence of age
    Bal, P.M.; Kooij, D.
  • Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: a qualitative analysis with recommendations
    Becker, T.E.
  • Comparative fit indexes in structural models
    Bentler, P.M.
  • A critical review and best practice recommendations for control variable usage
    Bernerth, J.B.; Aguinis, H.
  • Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: implications for data aggregation and analysis
    Bliese, P.D.; Klein, K.J.; Kozlowski, S.W.J.
  • Behavioral intention formation in knowledge sharing: examining the roles of extrinsic motivators, social-psychological forces, and organizational climate
    Bock, G.W.; Zmud, R.W.; Kim, Y.G.
  • The impact of organisational context and competences on innovation ambidexterity
    Brion, S.; Mothe, C.; Sabatier, M.
  • Ethical leadership: a social learning perspective for construct development and testing
    Brown, M.E.; Treviño, L.K.; Harrison, D.A.
  • A three-level examination of the cascading effects of ethical leadership on employee outcomes: a moderated mediation analysis
    Byun, G.; Karau, S.J.; Dai, Y.; Lee, S.
  • A study on relationship among leadership, organizational culture, the operation of learning organization and employees' job satisfaction
    Chang, S.C.; Lee, M.S.
  • Spiritual leadership on proactive workplace behavior: the role of organizational identification and psychological safety
    Chen, S.; Jiang, W.; Zhang, G.; Chu, F.
  • Behavioral factors affecting students' intentions to enroll in business ethics courses: a comparison of the theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory using self-identity as a moderator
    Cheng, P.Y.; Chu, M.C.
  • Transformational leadership, leader support, and employee creativity
    Cheung, F.Y.; Wong, C.S.
  • Implementing complex innovations: factors influencing middle manager support
    Chuang, E.; Jason, K.; Morgan, J.C.
  • Can ethical leaders enhance their followers' creativity?
    Chughtai, A.
  • How does organizational learning matter in strategic business performance? The contingency role of guanxi networking
    Chung, H.F.L.; Yang, Z.; Huang, P.H.
  • An organizational learning framework: from intuition to institution
    Crossan, M.M.; Lane, H.W.; White, R.E.
  • Organizational knowledge: ethics and the importance of trust
    da Costa, G.J.M.; Prior, M.; Rogerson, S.
  • Need satisfaction and the self-regulation of learning
    Deci, E.L.; Ryan, R.M.; Williams, G.C.
  • Outcomes of ethical leadership among salespeople
    DeConinck, J.B.
  • Managerial modes of influence and counterproductivity in organizations: a longitudinal business-unit-level investigation
    Detert, J.R.; Treviño, L.K.; Burris, E.R.; Andiappan, M.
  • An organizational climate regarding ethics: the outcome of leader values and the practices that reflect them
    Dickson, M.W.; Smith, D.B.; Grojean, M.W.; Ehrhart, M.
  • Examining the roles of job involvement and work centrality in predicting organizational citizenship behaviors and job performance
    Diefendorff, J.M.; Brown, D.J.; Kamin, A.M.; Lord, R.G.
  • Slave or sibling: a moral reframing the corporate knowledge sharing community
    Du Plessis, J.C.; Britz, J.J.; Davel, R.
  • Ethical and unethical leadership: a cross-cultural and cross-sectoral analysis
    Eisenbeiß, S.A.; Brodbeck, F.
  • Development and validation of the political skill inventory
    Ferris, G.R.; Treadway, D.C.; Kolodinsky, R.W.; Hochwarter, W.A.; Kacmar, C.J.; Douglas, C.; Frink, D.D.
  • Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error
    Fornell, C.; Larcker, D.F.
  • Employee learning orientation, transformational leadership, and employee creativity: the mediating role of employee creative self-efficacy
    Gong, Y.; Huang, J.C.; Farh, J.L.
  • Would you work if you won the lottery? Tracking changes in the American work ethic
    Highhouse, S.; Zickar, M.J.; Yankelevich, M.
  • Work centrality and work alienation: distinct aspects of a general commitment to work
    Hirschfeld, R.R.; Field, H.S.
  • Knowledge sharing in organizations: a conceptual framework
    Ipe, M.
  • Someone to look up to Executive–follower ethical reasoning and perceptions of ethical leadership
    Jordan, J.; Brown, M.E.; Treviño, L.K.; Finkelstein, S.
  • Satisfied movers, committed stayers: the impact of job mobility on work attitudes in Norway
    Kalleberg, A.L.; Mastekaasa, A.
  • Measurement of job and work involvement
    Kanungo, R.N.
  • Core capabilities and core rigidities: a paradox in managing new product development
    Leonard-Barton, D.
  • The myopia of learning
    Levinthal, D.A.; March, J.G.
  • Examining the effects of corporate social responsibility and ethical leadership on turnover intention
    Lin, C.P.; Liu, M.L.
  • Self-interest and knowledge-sharing intentions: the impacts of transformational leadership climate and HR practices
    Liu, Y.; DeFrank, R.S.
  • Linking ethical leadership to employee creativity: knowledge sharing and self-efficacy as mediators
    Ma, Y.; Cheng, W.; Ribbens, A.B.; Zou, J.
  • Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning
    March, J.G.
  • Self-schemata and processing information about the self
    Markus, H.
  • Learning to build a supply network: an exploration of dynamic business models
    Mason, J.K.; leek, S.
  • The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work
    May, D.R.; Gilson, R.; Harter, L.M.
  • How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model
    Mayer, D.M.; Kuenzi, M.; Greenbaum, R.; Bardes, M.; Salvador, R.B.
  • I can see clearly now: the moderating effects of role clarity on subordinate responses to ethical leadership
    Newman, A.; Allen, B.; Miao, Q.
  • Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies
    Podsakoff, P.M.; MacKenzie, S.B.; Jeong-Yeon, L.; Podsakoff, N.P.
  • Ethical issues in knowledge management: conflict of knowledge ownership
    Rechberg, I.; Syed, J.
  • Ethical leadership, self-efficacy and job satisfaction in China: the moderating role of guanxi
    Ren, S.; Chadee, D.
  • Moral attentiveness: who pays attention to the moral aspects of life?
    Reynolds, S.J.
  • Improving employees' work centrality improves organizational performance: work events and work centrality relationships
    Sharabi, M.; Harpaz, I.
  • The explore–exploit tension: a case study of organizing in a professional services firm
    Smith, A.C.T.; Gilbert, D.H.; Sutherland, F.
  • The combined influence of top and middle management leadership styles on absorptive capacity
    Sun, P.Y.T.; Anderson, M.H.
  • Organizational linkages for surviving technological change: complementary assets, middle management, and ambidexterity
    Taylor, A.; Helfat, C.E.
  • Moral person and moral manager: how executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership
    Trevino, L.K.; Hartman, L.P.; Brown, M.
  • Generational changes in materialism and work centrality, 1976-2007 associations with temporal changes in societal insecurity and materialistic role modeling
    Twenge, J.M.; Kasser, T.
  • Leadership for organizational adaptability: a theoretical synthesis and integrative framework
    Uhl-Bien, M.; Arena, M.
  • Parallel mediation model of social capital, learning and the adoption of best crop management practices
    Usman, M.; Ahmad, M.I.
  • The effect of ethical leadership on organizational learning: evidence from a petroleum company
    Usman, M.; Hameed, A.A.
  • Individual and organizational learning from inter-firm knowledge sharing: a framework integrating inter-firm and intra-firm knowledge sharing and learning
    Usman, M.; Ahmad, M.I.; Burgoyne, J.
  • Fueling the intrapreneurial spirit: a closer look at how spiritual leadership motivates employee intrapreneurial behaviors
    Usman, M.; Ali, M.; Ogbonnaya, C.; Babalola, M.T.
  • Strategic leadership and organizational learning
    Vera, D.; Crossan, M.
  • Does ethical leadership enhance group learning behavior? Examining the mediating influence of group ethical conduct, justice climate, and peer justice
    Walumbwa, F.O.; Hartnell, C.A.; Misati, E.
  • The effect of spiritual leadership on employee effectiveness: an intrinsic motivation perspective
    Wang, M.; Guo, T.; Ni, Y.; Shang, S.; Tang, Z.
  • The three facets of knowledge: a critique of the practice-based learning theory
    Yakhlef, A.
  • The impact of ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behavior: the moderating role of workplace ostracism
    Yang, Q.; Wei, H.
  • How ethical leadership influence employees' innovative work behavior: a perspective of intrinsic motivation
    Yidong, T.; Xinxin, L.
  • Ambidextrous leadership and team innovation
    Zacher, H.; Rosing, K.
  • Ethical leader behavior and big five factors of personality
    Kalshoven, K.; Den Hartog, D.N.; De Hoogh, A.H.B.
  • Creativity syndrome: integration, application and innovation
    Mumford, M.D.; Gustafson, S.B.
  • A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation
    Nonaka, I.