Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
The study examined the impact of ethical leadership on employee work engagement, self-efficacy, work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and trust within a higher educational institution. Anchoring on social learning theory and social exchange theory, it also investigated self-efficacy, work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and trust as mediating variables between ethical leadership and employee work engagement. 94 valid responses were gathered from full-time employees through a self-administered survey. Linear regression analysis revealed that ethical leadership has significant positive effects on employee work engagement, self-efficacy, work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and trust. Considering all exogenous variables in this study, a multiple linear regression analysis revealed that, among the five variables, only ethical leadership and work meaningfulness have a significant positive effect on employee engagement. The mediating effects of self-efficacy, work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and trust were collectively examined using a generalized linear model mediation function, which revealed that work meaningfulness was the only variable that significantly mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employee engagement. The mediating effects of these variables were also tested separately, and it was revealed that trust does not significantly mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and employee work engagement.
Recommended Citation
Zeta, P. S., & Triviño, J. B. (2025, September 27–28). The effect of ethical leadership on employee work engagement in higher education institution [Conference paper]. SIBR 2025 (Hong Kong) Conference on Interdisciplinary Business and Economics Research, Hong Kong. Archuum Ateneo.
