Machiavellianism, locus of control, moral identity, and ethical leadership among public service leaders in Malaysia: the moderating effect of ethical role modelling

PurposeThe objective of this study is to examine the predicting role of Machiavellianism, locus of control and moral identity on ethical leadership. This study also assessed the moderating role of ethical role modelling in the linkage between Machiavellianism, locus of control, moral identity and ethical leadership.Design/methodology/approachA total of 202 public service leaders in Malaysia participated in the study. A quantitative study was conducted and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsMoral identity poses a substantial influence on ethical leadership. Ethical role modelling is a significant moderator in the association between moral identity and ethical leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the social learning theory by assessing Machiavellianism, locus of control and moral identity as the predictors of ethical leadership among public service leaders in Malaysia. Future study can be further extended to both managerial and support staff to understand the ethical phenomenon in Malaysian public sector.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the need for public sector to give considerable attention to moral identity in boosting ethical leadership among public service leaders in Malaysia's public sector. Furthermore, the element of ethical role modelling should not be neglected as this factor is a valid moderator in nurturing ethical leadership among public service leaders.Originality/valueThe study deepens the knowledge on the importance of ethical role modelling as a moderator in assessing the influence of the predictors on ethical leadership. Further, this study demonstrates that public service leaders who reported high moral identity would have higher ethical leadership if they experienced good ethical role modelling.