A study on Ethical leadership perceptions and its impact on teachers commitment in Pakistan

AbstractThe primary objective of this research article is to study the concept of ethical leadership by determining the perceptions of school teachers regarding ethical leadership behaviors of the school leaders and establishing its relation with teacher’s commitment. In addition, this study tests the validity of ELQ survey instrument in educational sector of Pakistan. The research has collected data from a random sample of schools in the two largest districts of Punjab in Pakistan. The empirical study is based on primary data collected from 320 teachers and the results of this study reveal that the teachers perceived their leaders to be moderately ethical and a significant positive relationship existed between the two. Also, age and gender of employees did not affect the ethical leadership behaviors, however seniority of the employee had an impact on the ethical leadership behavior perceptions. Also, Ethical leadership was also found to positively impact on the two out of four dimensions of the teacher commitment, which are commitment to teaching and commitment to profession. This study adds contribution to theory by investigating the relationship between ethical leadership behaviors and the organizational commitment by conceptualizing it as teacher commitment. The practical implication of this study is that effective ethical leadership behavior that drives employee commitment need to be fostered in organizations to drive efficient performance.