Social Exchange Influences on ethical leadership and employee commitment in a developing country

Abstract: This study examined the extent to which Social Exchange Theory moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and perceptions of organisational commitment. This study’s sample comprised 355 employees from a Public Works Department in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (women = 39%). The employees completed the Social Exchange Theory Scale (Colquitt, Baer, Long & Halvorsen, 2014), the Ethical Leadership Scale (Brown et al., 2005), and the Organisational Commitment Scale (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Data was analysed by using Hierarchical Moderator Regression Analysis to influence employee commitment towards ethical leadership in collaboration with social exchange. The findings indicate that social exchange moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and affective, continuance and normative commitment