Title: Can moral development lead to upward influence behaviour? The mediating role of transformational leadership in an empirical inquiry

Authors: Koustab Ghosh

Addresses: Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak, M.D.U. Campus, Rohtak 124001, Haryana, India

Abstract: This empirical study examined the impact of transformational leadership with its antecedent of moral development on upward influence behaviour taking managerial responses from two power sector organisations located in India. Structured questionnaires were administered on the sample respondents in order to elicit the expected hypothetical relationship among moral development; transformational leadership; and upward influence behaviours. A total of 210 valid responses from two power sector organisations represented by junior, middle, and senior level executives were found valid for data analysis. Descriptive, correlations, post-hoc and confirmatory factor analyses were applied to empirically examine the hypothesised framework. Multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) analysis showed that moral development (moral sensitivity, moral motivation, and moral implementation) were positively related to transformational leadership, whereas transformational leadership was positively related to positive upward influence behaviours, and negatively related to negative upward influence behaviours.

Keywords: moral development; transformational leadership; upward influence behaviour; UIB; India; multilevel SEM; structural equation modelling; MSEM; moral sensitivity; moral motivation; moral implementation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2016.079816

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2016 Vol.13 No.4, pp.541 - 562

Received: 22 Jun 2015
Accepted: 19 Sep 2015
Published online: 16 Oct 2016 *

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