Nexus of Ethical Leadership, Career Satisfaction, Job Embeddedness, and Work Engagement in Hospitality Industry: A Sequential Mediation Assessment

Shoukat Iqbal Khattak; Aftab Haider; Syed Khalil Ahmed; Syed Tahir Hussain Rizvi; Lin Shaokang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865899

Nexus of Ethical Leadership, Career Satisfaction, Job Embeddedness, and Work Engagement in Hospitality Industry: A Sequential Mediation Assessment

Front Psychol. 2022 May 20:13:865899. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865899. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Shoukat Iqbal Khattak¹, Aftab Haider², Syed Khalil Ahmed³, Syed Tahir Hussain Rizvi⁴, Lin Shaokang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Business Administration, Jimei University, Xiamen, China.
² Business Studies Department, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
³ Department of Management Sciences, University of Loralai, Balochistan, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Management Sciences, Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ School of Finance, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.

Abstract

The paper proposes a research model explaining the sequential mediation effect of job embeddedness (JE) and work engagement (WENG) between ethical leadership (EL) and career satisfaction (CS). The model also examines whether JE heightens WENG, a factor indirectly influenced by ethical practices ending in employee satisfaction. The study used a time-lagged data collection procedure and survey responses of 247 hotel workers in China. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results showed that EL directly and indirectly (through sequential mediation effect of JE and WENG) contributes to employee CS. The present empirical framework extends the hospitality industry literature by explaining the precise mechanism (i.e., JE and WENG) through which EL generates CS among hospitality workers in China. The paper offers theoretical and practical implications and future research directions.

Keywords: career satisfaction; ethical leadership; hospitality industry; job embeddedness; work engagement.