How Ethical Leadership Sparks Employee Innovative Work Behavior: Examining the Sequential Mediating Role of Employee Resilience and Work Engagement

Abstract

This study investigated the impacts of ethical leadership on employees’ innovative work behavior, and employee resilience. Meanwhile, the relationships between employee resilience and employees’ innovative work behavior, as well as work engagement were also examined. This study also considered the influence of employee resilience as a mediating factor in the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ innovative work behavior. Finally, the study considered whether work engagement relates to innovative work behavior. A total of 580 survey questionnaires were distributed to bank employees working in eight banks in southern Thailand, with a total of 441 valid responses being collected. Data were analyzed according to structural equation modeling (SEM) using SPSS PROCESS macro. It was found that ethical leadership positively relates to employees’ innovative work behavior and employee resilience. Employee resilience had a positive relationship with both employees’ innovative work behavior and work engagement. Meanwhile, employee resilience positively mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ innovative work behavior. Finally, this study also found that work engagement positively impacted innovative work behavior.