The effect of ethical leadership on organizational outcomes in the hospitality industry: the mediating role of trust and emotional exhaustion

Abstract

Given the crucial role of ethical leadership in the hospitality industry, this study examines its impact on the organizational outcomes of service delivery, job satisfaction and employee turnover, with an emphasis on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and trust. Data for this study were collected from 503 hospitality employees in Greece. The results of the study indicate that ethical leadership plays an important role in predicting service delivery, job satisfaction and employee turnover. Emotional exhaustion and trust, mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and (a) job satisfaction and (b) employee turnover. The implications of these findings are mentioned.

Keywords:

• Emotional exhaustion
• ethical leadership
• hospitality industry
• job satisfaction
• service delivery
• trust
• turnover intention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.