The effect of Ethical leadership on life Satisfaction and well-being by Mediation of job Satisfaction: The case of Private Hospitals in Mashhad city

Abstract
In recent years, organizations have shown a growing interest in creating and promoting ethical leadership and leader’s effectiveness (Elci et al, 2012: 291). The reason for the recent time increasing importance of ethical leadership was the valuable results it produced for the followers, of which enhanced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, more willingness for reporting problems to superiors, increased health and wellbeing, and higher levels of performance are the examples (Chughtai, 2015: 93; Kim and Brymer, 2011: 1021).Ethical leadership as a modern approach in arena gives priority to ethics in the organization and proposes to impact improving individual and organizational effectiveness. Over the past several years, there has been a growing tendency in organizations to development and promotion of ethical leadership and leader’s effectiveness. The unique importance of ethical leadership is for the impact the leaders may have on the conduct of organization and ultimately on its performance. Ethical leadership is believed to direct and guide organizational members towards goals and objectives which benefit the organization, its members, other stakeholders, and society (Elci et al, 2012, p. 291) Ethical leadership and its behavioral dimensions are linked to various attitudes and behaviors of followers, including organizational commitment, content with leader, trust in management, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior (Kalshoven and Den-Hartog, 2009: 104). Corporate directors and managers should learn to recognize the value and significance of ethical leadership in a firm, an area that has been receiving increasing attention in the corporate world. They should integrate ethical leadership into the core values and visions of the firm, as well as the basic norms of the business. As well as opening endorsing and communicating throughout the whole firm the value and meaning of ethical leadership, directors and the top management themselves should be actively engaging in learning the meaning and practices of good ethical leadership, as well as good ethical management in general (Ip., 2011: 693). Achieving a state of inner wellbeing is among the ultimate purposes of human life, which is also sought in career and professional life (Lee et al, 2016: 1). In fact, enjoying high levels of wellbeing is one of the major indicators of people’s social progress (Valickas and Pilkauskaite-Valickiene, 2014: 2740). Wellbeing is a mixture of motivation and agreeable feeling and indicates an emotional state, suggesting that a low level of wellbeing negatively affects organization (Kalshoven and Boon, 2012: 60); since workers experiencing poor health and wellbeing in the workplace may be less productive, make lower quality decisions, be more prone to be absent from work, and make consistently diminishing overall contributions to the organization (Danna and Griffin, 1999: 35). In organizations, research on job satisfaction represents the hedonic approach to understanding psychological wellbeing: job satisfaction is defined in terms of employees’ subjective judgments about their work situations (Grant et al, 2007: 53). Job-specific wellbeing signifies people’s feeling about themselves in relation to their work (Honkaniemi et al, 2015: 395). In some studies, salient components of job wellbeing, such as job involvement and job satisfaction, are considered as the key factors in shaping the subjective wellbeing that includes life satisfaction (Lee et al, 2016: 2). This study, consistent with the mainline research on subjective wellbeing, assuming a connection between ethical leadership style and employee’s subjective wellbeing, seeks to find out whether in the understudy organization ethical leadership does impact the employee’s wellbeing and job satisfaction, while the mediating role of job satisfaction is taken into account. The current survey is aimed at investigating the relationships between ethical leadership and life satisfaction and well-being by considering the mediating role of job satisfaction amongst the nurses of private hospitals in Mashhad city. This is an applied research conducted based on a descriptive-correlational survey design in which data analysis was performed by covariance matrix using structural equation modeling (DEM) technique.
Case study
 The statistical population was comprised of 730 nurses of Mashhad private hospitals (i.e. Bent-ol-Hoda, Mehr, Sina and Razavi hospitals)where 166 ones were selected randomly.
Materials and Methods
 Hence, given the limited number of the population, the sample size was determined using Cochran formula for finite population. In this sampling procedure, first, a preliminary sample of 30 questionnaires of representatives were pretested and then, by replacing its error level for 5% in Cochran formula, the sample size was accurately estimated at 95 percent confidence interval and significance level of 5 percent, giving a sample size of 157 persons. But, anticipating that a certain number of the questionnaires may not return, 200 questionnaires were actually distributed among the nurses. Of these questionnaires, 166 soundly completed questionnaires were eventually used in the analysis process. The standard measures in Yang (2013) were used to measure the variables. In order to apply the measures to the Iranian society, they were adapted using translation – back – translation method. The face and content validity of the final questionnaire was verified using experts’ views. Job satisfaction, ethical leadership, and subjective wellbeing were measured with 4, 9, and 4 questions, respectively. In addition, using the content-face validity method, construct validity of the questionnaire’s items was examined and confirmed by a number of management professors and some of the nurses working in private hospitals of Mashhad. In examining the construct validity, it was made use of confirmatory factor analysis. The questionnaire’s reliability (internal consistency) was tested using Cronbach’s alpha. The calculated alpha for the questionnaire was 0.81 which confirms its adequate reliability. In table 1, calculated Cronbach’s alphas are presented per variable, and in table 2, the results of the confirmatory factor analysis are presented. It should be noted that all questionnaire’s items were designed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Data analysis, such as Pearson correlation for calculation of zero order correlation coefficients, SEM technique, goodness of fit test for structural equations with the collected data, and test of job satisfaction mediating effect were all performed in AMOS v.20 and SPSS v.19 environments.
Discussion and Results
Hypothesis 1 – The direct superior’s ethical leadership has a significant effect on subjective wellbeing of the nurses.
Hypothesis 2 – The direct superior’s ethical leadership has significant effect on job satisfaction of the nurses.
Hypothesis 3 – The direct job satisfaction of the nurses has significant effect on subjective wellbeing of the nurses
Hypothesis 4 – Job satisfaction significantly mediates the effect of ethical leadership on subjective wellbeing among the nurses.
Hypothesis 5 – The direct superior’s ethical leadership has significant effect on life  satisfaction of the nurses.
Hypothesis 6 – Job satisfaction significantly mediates the effect of ethical leadership on life  satisfaction of the nurses
Hypothesis 7 – Job satisfaction significantly mediates the effect of ethical leadership on life  satisfaction of the nurses.
conclusion
Results indicated that the relationships between ethical leadership and life satisfaction and well-being are significant. Furthermore, job satisfaction mediates the effect of ethical leadership on job satisfaction and well-being. According to obtain the results, ethical leadership directly and indirectly (through job satisfaction) affected the nurses' life satisfaction and well-being. Thus, relying on ethics and ethical leadership in hospitals increases the mental well-being and life satisfaction of nurses as well as improving the environment and organizational context.