Purpose

Leadership has a decisive role in the success of all types of businesses and firms, including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the ethical behavior of leaders is a key component which brings a sense of respect, fulfillment, trustworthiness and acceptance among the employees, which later become visible in their job performance (JP). This study aims to check the immediate effect of ethical leadership (EL) on employee’s JP (EJP) and also explore the indirect mediating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on this EL and EJP nexus.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data was obtained from the employees of manufacturing SMEs of Northern Italy using a cross-sectional design from the end of 2019 to the start of 2020. This paper circulated 450 self-administered questionnaires using simple random sampling, and 202 (44.88%) valid questionnaires were returned. The PROCESS macro was performed using statistical package for social sciences to ensure whether or not EL affects EJP and is there any mediation effect of CSR present in this nexus.

Findings

The results indicate that EL has a strong positive connection with EJP and CSR. Interestingly, CSR positively influences EJP. Furthermore, the results also report the strong mediating effect of CSR in the nexus of EL and EJP.

Originality/value

This scholarly work seeks to contribute not only to the literature of EL and EJP but also enriches the understanding of this EL-EJP association by highlighting the indirect effect of mediating variable CSR in the SME sector.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任是否调节道德领导和员工工作绩效之间的关系？来自意大利北部中小企业的证据

目的

领导力对包括中小企业在内的各类企业和公司的成功具有决定性作用，领导者的道德行为是带来尊重感、成就感、值得信赖和接受感的关键组成部分在员工中，这些后来在他们的工作绩效中变得可见 (JP)。本研究旨在检查道德领导 (EL) 对员工 JP (EJP) 的直接影响，并探讨企业社会责任 (CSR) 对这种 EL 和 EJP 关系的间接中介作用。

设计/方法/方法

一手数据为2019年底至2020年初采用横断面设计的意大利北部制造业中小企业员工数据。本文采用简单随机抽样方式发放自填问卷450份，有效问卷202份（44.88%）问卷被退回。PROCESS 宏是使用社会科学的统计包执行的，以确保 EL 是否影响 EJP 以及在此关系中是否存在 CSR 的任何中介效应。

发现

结果表明 EL 与 EJP 和 CSR 有很强的正相关。有趣的是，企业社会责任对 EJP 产生积极影响。此外，结果还报告了 CSR 在 EL 和 EJP 关系中的强烈中介作用。

原创性/价值

这项学术工作不仅旨在为 EL 和 EJP 的文献做出贡献，而且还通过强调中介变量 CSR 在中小企业部门中的间接影响，丰富了对 EL-EJP 协会的理解。