Leader Machiavellianism as an Antecedent to Ethical Leadership: The Impact on Follower Psychological Empowerment and Work Outcomes

Abstract

Though considerable research has been conducted on ethical leadership, we still know very little about the antecedents to ethical leadership perceptions. Drawing primarily from social learning theory, we propose a process model by which leader Machiavellianism affects ethical leadership, which is then hypothesized to influence psychological empowerment. In addition, we propose that team member role performance and organization-directed organizational citizenship behavior will be consequences of psychological empowerment. Drawing from a sample of 242 employees reporting to 82 leaders, our findings broadly demonstrate support for our hypotheses and advance our understanding of both antecedents and outcomes of ethical leadership. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings, along with the practical insights, limitations, and future research opportunities.