THE IMPACT OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEES’ JOB SATISFACTION WITH THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF LOYALTY TO SUPERVISOR IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNIVERSITIES IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The study is designed to understand the influence of ethical leadership on the job satisfaction of employees in public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan by assessing the mediation of Loyalty to Supervisor (LOY). The sample size was 250 faculty members (46 females and 204 males) whose cross-sectional survey was carried out using validated scales on a 5-point Likert scale. The SPSS and AMOS were used to analyze data, including reliability analysis, correlation, regression, and bootstrapped mediation analysis. Findings show that Ethical Leadership affects Job Satisfaction (B =.230, p=.002) significantly, and the indirect impact of Ethical Leadership on Job Satisfaction is partially mediated by Loyalty to Supervisor (indirect effect=.190, 95%CI=.120-270). The results reinforce the idea of the Social Exchange Theory and indicate that the employees will return ethical leadership behaviors with loyalty, which leads to satisfaction. The study has a theoretical contribution as it reflects the relational process between ethical leadership and job satisfaction in higher education and a practical contribution because it gives guidance to university administrators to promote ethical supervisory behaviors. The cross-sectional design and the emphasis on one sector are limitations that indicate future research directions of longitudinal research and multi-sector research. All in all, the research highlights the role of ethical leadership and supervisor-subordinate loyalty in improving employee satisfaction in the case of public universities.