Abstract:

Purpose- The aim of this study is to investigate possible direct and indirect effects (through leader-member exchange-LMX) of member’s ethical leadership perception on their career success and individual creativity. Methodology- Survey method was used to test the hypothesized effects in the proposed model. A total of 212 employees from private sector companies in a province of Turkey participated in the survey. Survey results were analysed by structural equation modelling. Findings- The results show that ethical leadership affects LMX positively and in turn LMX has a positive and significant impact on creativity. Thus, ethical leadership was found to have only indirect effect on creativity through LMX. On the other hand, ethical leadership was found to have a positive and statistically significant direct effect on career success. Conclusion- Working with an ethical leader brings close interaction between employee and the leader, fosters employee’s loyalty to the leader and commitment to the organizational tasks beyond formal requirements. In turn, high leader-member exchange leads to an increase in employee’s creativity.  Moreover, if employees believe that their leader adopts ethical beliefs and performs ethically, they would be satisfied with their improvement in achieving career goals regarding promotion, salary and work success regardless of the quality of their relationship with the leader. 

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