Ethical leadership as an informal HR governance mechanism: linking ethical leadership to organizational citizenship behavior via trust and affective commitment

Purpose This study examines how ethical leadership activates organizational citizenship behavior through trust and affective commitment, and how these relational processes are shaped within the context of ethical climate. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a cross-sectional survey design with data from 1,096 technical employees in 42 Turkish manufacturing and technology firms. Ethical leadership, trust, affective commitment, ethical climate, and organizational citizenship behavior were measured with validated Likert scales. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (DWLS) and conditional process analyses (Hayes PROCESS), estimating direct, indirect, and moderated effects and assessing measurement quality (reliability/validity) and potential common method bias. Findings The findings show that ethical leadership has both direct and indirect effects on organizational citizenship behavior. Trust and affective commitment function as complementary psychosocial mechanisms in the transformation of ethical leadership into behavioral outcomes, while ethical climate reshapes the strength of these mechanisms depending on the context. Originality/value The study conceptualizes ethical leadership as an informal ethical governance mechanism and tests a context-sensitive model in which trust and affective commitment transmit ethical signals to citizenship behavior under varying ethical climates. It advances prior work by integrating governance logic with social learning and social exchange perspectives, demonstrating how ethical climate reshapes the strength of relational mechanisms. Evidence from a large multi-firm sample in a developing economy undergoing digital transformation extends the contextual generalizability of ethical leadership research.