SMEs’ perspective on how ethical leadership supports community engagement in buyer–supplier power asymmetric relationships
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Date
Authors
Mamabolo, Anastacia.
Myres, Kerrin
Pogrud, Gideon
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
The increasing moral challenges facing organizations flag the significance of ethical leadership. Despite the significance of promoting moral behavior, the existing literature has scarcely looked at ethical leadership in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and studied its outcomes beyond the organization. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between ethical leadership and community engagement moderated by the treatment of SMEs as suppliers and customers. The study argues that ethical leadership is important in helping SMEs execute community engagement activities, but that this depends on external factors. When entrepreneurs are treated unfairly by the powerful larger corporates, they will not be able to execute their activities. We conducted a quantitative study to answer the research objective and test the hypotheses. The final sample consisted of 276 participants, and the data were analyzed by using multiple hierarchical regression. The study found that ethical leadership predicted community engagement. However, the moderating role of the treatment of SMEs as suppliers and buyers on the role of ethical leadership and community engagement was not significant. The study provides insights on ethical leadership in the context of community engagement and buyer–supplier relationships. Also, the study shows that SMEs continue practicing ethical leadership and community engagement, regardless of how they are treated as suppliers and buyers by large companies, alluding to the importance of ethical leadership. Lastly, the study provides insights into the interactions between leadership and community engagement in the context of buyer–supplier power asymmetry.
Description
This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Ethical Leadership in Its Cultural Context: New Challenges and Prospects.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data used in this article are not readily available because of the privacy statement.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data used in this article are not readily available because of the privacy statement.
Keywords
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Ethical leadership, Community engagement, Buyer–supplier relationships, SDG-17: Partnerships for the goals
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG-17:Partnerships for the goals
Citation
Mamabolo, A., Myres, K., & Pogrund, G. (2025). SMEs’ Perspective
on How Ethical Leadership Supports
Community Engagement in
Buyer–Supplier Power Asymmetric
Relationships. Administrative Sciences,
15(3), 72. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15030072.