Ethical leadership and responsible initiative among Chinese university middle-level cadres: the roles of organizational fairness and identification
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Responsible initiative, the self-started and change-oriented behavior through which staff identify problems and push improvements forward, keeps universities functioning, yet the leadership conditions associated with it among middle-level cadres remain understudied. Drawing on social exchange theory and social identity theory, this cross-sectional survey proposed that ethical leadership relates to responsible initiative both directly and through two linked mechanisms: organizational fairness and organizational identification. A total of 476 middle-level cadres (64.3% male; mean age 42.5 years, SD = 6.6) from 11 universities and colleges in Shanxi Province, China, completed measures of ethical leadership (10-item Ethical Leadership Scale), organizational fairness (12 items adapted from Colquitt), organizational identification (six-item scale of Mael and Ashforth), and responsible initiative (eight items adapted from personal initiative and taking-charge instruments). Serial mediation analysis (PROCESS model 6, 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples) showed that ethical leadership was positively associated with responsible initiative (total effect = 0.389, p < 0.001). The indirect effect through organizational fairness [0.107, 95% CI (0.059, 0.162)], the indirect effect through organizational identification [0.086, 95% CI (0.053, 0.127)], and the serial indirect effect through fairness followed by identification [0.057, 95% CI (0.037, 0.086)] were all significant, jointly accounting for 64.2% of the total effect. These findings indicate that fair treatment and identification with the institution are parallel and sequential routes that statistically account for the association between ethical leadership and cadre initiative, and they are consistent with the value of ethics-focused leadership development and transparent appraisal procedures for strengthening responsible initiative in higher education administration. The parallel and sequential operation of exchange-based and identity-based mechanisms extends social exchange and social identity accounts of ethical leadership to a public-sector cadre population.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Author: Lei Chen
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223174948