Explaining the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout facets in the academic context: the mediating role of illegitimate tasks

PurposeAlthough the literature shows that ethical leadership reduces the risk of burnout, research still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the mediating effects between ethical leadership and burnout. As media reports on working conditions in the academic context often tie the problem of unethical leadership practices to illegitimate tasks, this study focuses on illegitimate tasks as a mediator between ethical leadership and burnout.Design/methodology/approachThe research model is tested using structural equation modeling and data from 1,053 doctoral and postdoctoral students in randomly selected German state universities.FindingsThe results significantly support all hypothesized effects, showing direct correlations between (1) ethical leadership and illegitimate tasks, (2) ethical leadership and burnout facets and (3) illegitimate tasks and burnout facets. The relationship between ethical leadership and burnout is thus partially mediated by illegitimate tasks.Practical implicationsThe authors recommend three major fields of action for practice. These fields comprise (1) the leadership situation, (2) the leader and (3) the follower.Originality/valueThe presented model is the first that connects the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout with illegitimate tasks and looks at ethical leadership from a stress-as-offense-to-self (SOS) perspective.