IJERPH, Vol. 18, Pages 10862: Ethical Leadership and Followers` Emotional Exhaustion: Exploring the Roles of Three Types of Emotional Labor toward Leaders in South Korea (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health)

Employees` emotional exhaustion caused by their leaders has significant consequences for both individuals and organizations. Identifying the roles of intra-organizational emotional labor is important to prevent employees` emotional exhaustion. This study examined the relationships between ethical leadership, followers` emotional labor toward leaders, and emotional exhaustion using Hobfoll`s conservation of resources theory. Data collected from 259 employees working in South Korea were analyzed using regression and SEM. The results indicate that ethical leadership was negatively related to followers` emotional exhaustion. It is demonstrated that ethical leadership has a significant indirect relationship with followers` emotional exhaustion through three types of emotional labor strategies; genuine display, faked display, and suppressed display. Through genuine display and suppressed display, ethical leadership had an indirect and negative relationship with followers` emotional exhaustion, whereas ethical leadership and followers` emotional exhaustion showed a positive indirect relationship through faked display. We discuss the implications and limitations of this research and future research directions.