Ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction in architectural firms, in Nairobi County, Kenya
Date
2024
Authors
Mutinda, L. K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Multiple studies affirm that the future of business and leading change in various workplace practices is in ethical leadership. Moreover, ethical leadership is essential in fostering winning teams, lowering turnover, improving productivity, and boosting employee loyalty. It also fosters values that are key in improving job satisfaction, such as honesty, integrity, transparency, fairness, and trust. The aim of this research was to investigate the impacts of ethical leadership on workers’ job satisfaction in architectural firms in the Nairobi region of Kenya. The main objective was understand how ethical leadership dimensions such as rewards and sanctions, balanced processing, moral perspective and moral sensitivity in architectural firms in Nairobi influence job satisfaction. The study was based on three key theories which include the leader-member (LMX) theory, the theory of contingencies and the theory of transformation which highlight the importance of ethical leadership in job satisfaction. The research employed a quantitative research methods to acquire relevant insights into the subject matter. The research also utilized primary data to acquire relevant details on the level of impact achieved by ethical leadership. The study samplesd 385 employees in different architectural firms around the Nairobi region who completed questionnaires that were distributed among them. SPSS software version 20 was used to analyze the acquired data, and tables displayed the results. Standard deviations, means, and frequencies were the descriptive statistics used to examine the data, and the correlation between the variables. From the data analysis a moderate positive correlation was established between rewards and sanctions and job satisfaction (r = 0.725, P<0.05), between balanced processing and job satisfaction (r = 0.358, P<0.05), between moral perspective and job satisfaction (r = 0.480, P<0.05) and between moral sensitivity and job satisfaction (r = 0.655, P<0.05). Additionally regression analysis established a significant positive relationship between rewards and sanctions and job satisfaction (β = 0.412), between balanced processing and job satisfaction (β = 0.405), between moral perspective and job satisfaction (β = 0.567) and between moral sensitivity and job satisfaction (β = 0.601) upon establishing a strong relationship between these variables, the study recommends that firms in this sector should emphazise on ethical leadership as it affects job satisfaction and achievement of overall organizational goals.
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