Ethical Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Mediation of Trust and Psychological Well-Being

PURPOSE: Nurses’ behaviors are largely influenced by their managers’ leadership style. The relationships between ethical leadership, trust, psychological well-being, and organizational citizenship behaviors have rarely been investigated in nursing studies. The current study attempted to examine the relationships between perceived ethical leadership, trust, psychological health, and nurses’ organizational citizenship behaviors towards their patients in the context of Chinese hospitals. METHODS: This research adopted a cross-sectional research design. Participants were 495 nurses solicited from six hospitals in China. Hayes’s PROCESS and SPSS 22 were employed to analyze the data. RESULTS: This study demonstrated ethical leadership perceived by nurses is positively associated with trust in management and psychological well-being. Trust in management is also positively associated with nurses’ organizational citizenship behaviors. The indirect effects of perceived ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behaviors through trust in management and psychological well-being were statically significant. CONCLUSION: This study adds value to the literature by revealing ethical leadership boosts nurses’ trust in leadership and their psychological well-being, resulting in more organizational citizenship behaviors towards patients in the context of the Chinese hospitals. It is suggested that the hospital management creates an environment in which all members are treated fairly to boost nurses’ psychological health and improve their service quality toward patients’ satisfaction.