Impact of Ethical Leadership on Job Satisfaction and Work-Related Burnout among Turkish Street-Level Bureaucrats: The Roles of Public Service Motivation, Perceived Organizational Support, and Red Tape

Abstract

The present study examines the impact of ethical leadership on job satisfaction and work-related burnout (WRB) among street-level bureaucrats through the mediating roles of public service motivation (PSM), perceived organizational support (POS), and red tape by employing social exchange, conservation of resources, social learning, self-determination, and job demands-resources theories. Data from 712 street-level bureaucrats were collected in three waves in Turkey. The findings of structural equation modeling revealed that ethical leadership not only directly but also indirectly affects job satisfaction and WRB. Moreover, ethical leadership was effective in influencing employees’ perceptions of job demands and resources in public sector organizations. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions that PSM is a motivational construct influenced by leadership and job resources, which in turn affects employee outcomes. The results also indicated that job resources (i.e., perceived organizational support) played a more significant role than job demands (i.e., red tape) in determining the effects of ethical leadership on employee outcomes.

Keywords:

• Ethical leadership
• perceived organizational support
• public management
• public service motivation
• red tape

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bulent Uluturk

Bulent Uluturk is a member of the Turkish National Police Department. He has received doctoral degree in public administration from the University of Baltimore. His research interests include street-level bureaucracy, leadership, public service motivation, performance, and organizational behavior.

Elgiz Yilmaz Altuntas

Elgiz Yilmaz Altuntas has received her PhD in organizational communication from the Université Bordeaux Montaigne. She is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the Galatasaray University. Her research interests include brand management, corporate communication, and interpersonal communication.

Tuba Isik

Tuba Isik has completed her doctorate in Istanbul University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism. She is an associate professor in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising at the Agri İbrahim Cecen University. Her research interests focus on digital communication, communication studies, health communication, and mass communication.