Understanding the Role of Psychological Ownership on the Relationship between Ethical Leadership and Employee Performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ethical leadership on employee performance with the role of psychological ownership mediator. The present study is applied and descriptive-correlational, and the data were collected in the field survey. The statistical population of the study was the knowledge personnel of a military university. According to the Morgan and Karjets table, the sample size was estimated to be 210, selected through random-cluster sampling. To assess ethical leadership, psychological property, job performance, the questionnaires by Brown and et al. (2005), Van Dyne and Pierce (2004), and Patterson’s (2006) were used respectively. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (LISREL 8.54), and the findings showed that ethical leadership directly and indirectly influences employee performance through psychological ownership. Ethical leaders can increase individual awareness by changing the attitude and strengthening the sense of ownership toward the organization, and by providing emotional and cognitive attachment between the individual and the aim, they can influence an individual’s behavior to prepare the necessary basis for facilitating organizational process and increasing job performance.