Impact of ethical leadership, HRM practices and ethical climate on organizational citizenship behaviors in Nigerian local governments

PurposeThe increasing number of ethical scandals reported in many public organizations all over the world, highlighted the need for more in-depth studies on the influence of ethical leadership and management practices in the public sector organizations. This study examines the link (direct and indirect) between ethical leadership, HRM practices, ethical climate and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) within the context of Nigerian local governments.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional design was adopted and data for the study was collected quantitatively by administering questionnaires to supervisors/leaders and their respective employees/subordinates. A total of 270 participants comprising 135 leaders/supervisors who are head of departments and another 135 employee/subordinates participated in the study. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used in testing the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings show that ethical leadership, HRM practices and ethical climate significantly affect OCBs. Also, the study shows that ethical climate mediated both the relationships between ethical leadership and OCBs, and HRM practices and OCBs respectively. Thus, the study concluded that both ethical leadership and HRM practices can influence OCBs directly and also indirectly through ethical climate.Practical implicationsThe study empirically delineates the importance of ethical leadership, HRM practices and ethical climate in promoting more OCBs within the context of Nigerian local governments. Therefore, managers/administrators should encourage ethical leadership style, and implement good HRM practices and promote ethical climate within their organization so as to boost their employees' OCBs.Originality/valueThe findings of this study will contribute to the understanding of the relationships between ethical leadership, HRM practices, ethical climate and OCBs in the public sector organizations within Nigeria. The findings will also provide additional support that ethical climate is an important mechanism on the relationship between ethical leadership and HRM practices on OCBs.