Moral leadership and work performance

Purpose Moral leadership, as an important element of paternalistic leadership, can be traced back to the cultural tradition of Confucianism. High morality has been expected to be demonstrated by leaders since ancient times in China. In modern Chinese organizations, moral leadership still plays an important role. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underlying mechanisms of moral leadership functions by examining the mediating and interaction effects. Design/methodology/approach Data of 370 dyads were collected in mainland China. SPSS 17.0 and Amos 6.0 were used to test the mediating and interaction effects. Findings Trust‐in‐supervisor and two dimensions of psychological empowerment, including meaning and self‐determination, were found to mediate the relationship between moral leadership and work performance. The results supported the interaction effect of moral and benevolent leadership and rejected the interaction effect of moral and authoritarian leadership on trust‐in‐supervisor. Originality/value By probing the mediating and interaction effects, the paper advances our knowledge of the psychological mechanisms of moral leadership effectiveness in the Chinese context. A discussion of the implications for both researchers and practitioners is provided.