The Relationships Among Leader’s Political Skill of Leader-Member Exchange, Ethical Leadership, and Some Work Outcomes

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship among political skill, leader-member exchange, and ethical leadership and to reveal the impact of leader-member exchange on various work outcomes. In this context, the impact of leader-member exchange on individual creativity, life satisfaction, career success, and psychological well-being was examined. For this research, in September-November 2018 data were gathered through question forms from a total of 211 employees of a private sector firm in Istanbul, and structural equation modeling was used. According to the results of the analyses, it was found that ethical leadership has a full mediation effect on the relationship between political skill and leader-member exchange. Moreover, the employee's leader-member exchange perception was found to affect his/her creativity, life satisfaction, career success, and psychological well-being positively. In this study, if ethical values are successfully placed in the organization and an ethical climate is formed, it is seen that the leader does not need any extra skills. The formation of an ethical management approach in organizations has an effect that eliminates the need for leaders to have political skills.