The Psychological Mechanism of Moral Leadership Influencing Responsible Subordinate Behavior

Abstract

As China’s anti-corruption campaign intensifies, several of those involved in various capacities in the public sector are demonstrating slackness, a lack of moral awareness, and a weakened sense of responsibility. This study analyzes the multiple mechanisms influencing the responsible behavior of public sector personnel by combining certain key factors, such as managers’ moral leadership style, psychological security, and the notion of interactive justice. Based on social information processing theory and social exchange theory, this study constructs a dual mediation model (psychological security and interactive justice) to explore the mediating psychological mechanism of moral leadership influencing employees’ responsible behavior. The results of a two-stage paired survey and structural equation modeling analysis of civil servants from 48 departments and eight units in Shandong and Henan provinces show that moral leadership positively impacts responsible behavior. Moreover, psychological security and interactive justice play a mediating role between them. Furthermore, this study elaborates upon the mechanism of moral leadership affecting the responsible behavior of employees, which is of great value for improving the efficiency of government management and guiding civil servants to behave more responsibly.

Keywords

• moral leadership
• psychological security
• interactional justice
• conscientiousness
• double-mediation model