The Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employee Job Satisfaction

This qualitative research study explored the relationship between ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction using data collected through twenty in-depth interviews and two focus groups. The problem addressed by this study was how attributes of ethical leadership impact staff job satisfaction in a small community. This subject was identified as fundamental to leadership in general and to organizational outcomes through the effects of employee productivity and turnover rate; the results, therefore, have been applied to all organizations. However, since this research study took place in a hospital and university, the results were best applied to organizations within the medical and education fields. The purpose of this study was to explore the existence of a relationship between the ethical leadership and job satisfaction. The researcher used her own observations and the research discussed in the Chapter Two literature review to develop a theoretical framework relating leadership, workplace environment, level of employee job satisfaction, and employee productivity/turnover rates. With this as a framework, the researcher expected the results of this study to indicate high direct correlation between the presence of ethical leadership and high employee job satisfaction. Data was collected from two institutions located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: one hospital (ten interviews; one eight-person focus group) and one university (ten interviews; one eight-person focus group). All interviews and focus groups were conducted using the same list of prompting questions. The researcher analyzed this data by hand, identifying relevant text—words and phrases—which were used to develop themes with the assistance of Excel and Microsoft Word. These themes were then used to answer the research questions. The data collected supported the theoretical model: there was a 100% relationship between leadership and employee job satisfaction. The strongest finding of this study was that subordinates preferred leaders who had both great listening skills and great communication ability. Implications from this study included: it behooves leaders to promote an ethical environment in their organization; leaders must have integrity. Other implications include: support for leaders to utilize transformational or servant leadership styles