The Relationship between Ethical Leadership and Bullying Behavior: The Mediating Role of Organizational Justice

Abstract

Ethical leadership plays a key role in the establishment of a school environment where negative behaviors such as mobbing and bullying seen less. Although there have been some studies on the relationship between ethical leadership and bullying behavior, potential determinants explaining this relationship needs further exploration. The purpose of the current study was to examine the mediating role of organizational justice in relationship between ethical leadership and bullying behavior. The participants were 551 teachers working in three different central districts in Konya, Turkey. Data was collected using the Ethical Leadership Scale to measure teachers’ perceptions of ethical leadership, Negative Acts Questionnaire to measure teachers’ perceptions of bullying, and Organizational Justice Scale to measure teachers’ perceptions of organizational justice. Results revealed that ethical leadership and organizational justice was negatively correlated with bullying behavior. Besides, organizational justice partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and bullying behavior in which ethical leadership had both direct influence on bullying behavior and indirect influence through organizational justice. In the light of these findings, recommendations were given for further research and administrative applications.

Keywords: Ethics, Ethical leadership, School principals, Bullying behavior, Organizational justice.