SMEs’ perspective on how ethical leadership supports community engagement in buyer–supplier power asymmetric relationships

dc.contributor.authorMamabolo, Anastacia.
dc.contributor.authorMyres, Kerrin
dc.contributor.authorPogrud, Gideon
dc.contributor.emailmamaboloa@gibs.co.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-16T10:27:24Z
dc.date.available2025-04-16T10:27:24Z
dc.date.issued2025-03
dc.descriptionThis article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Ethical Leadership in Its Cultural Context: New Challenges and Prospects.en_US
dc.descriptionDATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data used in this article are not readily available because of the privacy statement.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe 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.en_US
dc.description.departmentGordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)en_US
dc.description.librarianhj2024en_US
dc.description.sdgSDG-17:Partnerships for the goalsen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipE-squared Investments.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/admscien_US
dc.identifier.citationMamabolo, 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.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2076-3387 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3390/admsci15030072
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/102135
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMDPIen_US
dc.rights© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).en_US
dc.subjectSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)en_US
dc.subjectEthical leadershipen_US
dc.subjectCommunity engagementen_US
dc.subjectBuyer–supplier relationshipsen_US
dc.subjectSDG-17: Partnerships for the goalsen_US
dc.titleSMEs’ perspective on how ethical leadership supports community engagement in buyer–supplier power asymmetric relationshipsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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