The Relationship between Managers' Ethical Leadership Style with Professional Commitment and Ethical Sensitivity among Physicians of a Military Hospital

Doctors as leaders and managers of different departments of a hospital are morally a model for students and clients. Hospitals, as organizations, according to their nature, should be sensitive to ethical issues and to the commitment of doctors.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between managers’ ethical leadership style with professional commitment and moral sensitivity of physicians in a military hospital.

This study is descriptive and correlational. The research population included all physicians of a military hospital in Tehran. To collect data, ethical leadership, professional commitment, and moral sensitivity questionnaires have been used with Likert’s five-point scale. The reliability of each questionnaire was 0.88, 0.94, 0.82, according to Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 22, Smart PLS version 2, using one-sample t-test, Pearson correlation, regression analysis in synchronous manner and structural equations.

Findings showed that there was a significant relationship between hospital managers’ ethical leadership style and physicians’ ethical sensitivity with a correlation coefficient of 0.776 at 0.01 level. Also, there is a significant relationship between the managers’ ethical leadership style and the level of professional commitment of physicians in the hospital with a correlation coefficient of 0.778 at 0.01 level. The results of this study showed that the structural model of the study is well-suited. According to the findings, ethical leadership status predicts the level of ethical sensitivity and professional commitment. Also, ethical leadership has a positive effect, both directly and indirectly, on the mediation of professional commitment to physicians’ moral sensitivity.

According to the findings of the study, it is recommended to have ethical leadership and ethical environment in the hospital so that in addition to providing a proper context for the ethical performance of physicians and staff, it is positively important to promote professional commitment and ethical sensitivity among hospital physicians.