Linking retailers’ ethical leadership to frontline employee outcomes: a structural equation model approach

This study aims to explore how frontline employee perceptions of
the retailer’s ethical leadership influence their work-related thoughts and
behaviours. To achieve this we develop hypotheses about the influence of the
retailer’s ethical leadership on frontline employee job satisfaction, self-efficacy,
organisational identification, and turnover intentions. Using structural equation
modelling we test our hypotheses with a sample of 208 frontline employees
from the Finnish retail industry. Our research results suggest that retailers’
ethical leadership relates positively to frontline employee job satisfaction,
self-efficacy and organisational identification. This study also shows that
frontline employee job satisfaction has a strong negative impact on their
turnover intentions. In addition, the results indicate that there is a relatively
strong negative impact directly from ethical leadership on turnover intentions.
Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research opportunities
are also discussed.