Abstract Grounded in social learning theory, this study develops a theoretical model incorporating moderated mediation effects to explore the resource-dependent dynamics of ethical leadership’s influence on employees’ moral voice. The aim is to identify the mechanisms that constrain the impact of ethical leadership on employees’ moral voice. Drawing on two-wave paired data from 583 leader-employee dyads, the findings reveal that this influence is neither direct nor automatic but is instead inhibited by ego depletion and employee-leader moral foundation differences. Specifically, both ego depletion and employee-leader moral foundation differences hinder the effect of ethical leadership on employees’ moral model identification, thereby suppressing their moral voice. Additionally, employee-leader moral foundation differences mediate the inhibitory effect of ego depletion on the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ moral voice.
WANG Zijing,TAN Beijing,ZHAO Shusong等. The Inhibitory Mechanism of Ego Depletion on the Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employees’ Moral Voice[J]. Chinese Journal of Management, 2024, 21(10): 1476-.
