The Mediating Role of Employee Loyalty in The Effect of Ethical Leadership Perception on Employee Motivation: The Case of Aviation Industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63556/tisej.2025.1448Keywords:
Ethical leadership, Employee loyalty, Employee motivationAbstract
Ethical leadership refers to the leader's adherence to moral values and truth, transparency, fairness and honesty. There is a strong relationship between ethical leadership and employee loyalty. Therefore, ethical leadership positively affects motivation in employees and contributes to the development of motivation-related characteristics. In this study, it is aimed to examine the mediating role of employee loyalty in the effect of ethical leadership perceptions of employees in the aviation sector on employee motivation. Relational survey model, one of the descriptive research models, was used in the study. The population of the research consists of individuals working in the aviation sector in Istanbul in 2024. The sample of the research consists of 230 employees determined by using simple random sampling method from the universe. Demographic information form, ethical leadership scale and employee loyalty scale were used as data collection tools. In this context, the data were analyzed using SPSS24 data analysis program. As a result of the research, it was determined that the ethical leadership levels of the employees did not differ according to age, and not being arrogant among the leadership characteristics was higher in men. In addition, when the effect of ethical leadership on employee loyalty was analyzed, it was concluded that being respectful and not being arrogant positively affected employee loyalty. Considering the results obtained in the research, it can be said that ethical leadership behaviors are important in terms of employee loyalty, and therefore, the ethical leadership behaviors of managers should be improved in organizations in terms of employee satisfaction and job performance.
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