ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicEthical leadership and workplace equity: Mediating and moderating mechanisms in emotional labor and well-beingView all articles
The Influence of Team Ethical Leadership on Ethical Climate, Moral Efficacy, and Multilevel Vigilante Behavior: The Moderating Role of Organizational Monitoring Intensity
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China
- 2Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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Abstract: Drawing on Social cognitive theory, this study investigates the multilevel influence of ethical leadership on organizational vigilantism. Specifically, we propose a dual-pathway model to explore how team ethical leadership affects vigilante behavior at both the team and individual levels, while examining the boundary condition of organizational monitoring intensity. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a multi-wave field survey of 92 teams and 303 employees within a large enterprise in Central China. The results reveal that: (1) Team ethical leadership positively influences team vigilante behavior through the mediating role of team ethical climate; (2) Team ethical leadership positively influences employee vigilante behavior through the mediating role of employee moral efficacy; and (3) Organizational monitoring intensity acts as a negative moderator in these relationships. Specifically, the positive effects of ethical leadership on team ethical climate and employee moral efficacy—and the subsequent indirect effects on vigilante behavior at both levels—are stronger when organizational monitoring intensity is low rather than high. These findings suggest that ethical leadership serves as a vital source of agency that empowers employees and teams to uphold norms, particularly in environments where formal monitoring is weak. Practically, this study suggests that organizations should prioritize ethical leadership as a critical substitute for formal surveillance to maintain ethical order. This study also contributes to the literature by uncovering the cross-level mechanisms and boundary conditions of organizational vigilantism.
Keywords: Ethical climate, Ethical Leadership, Moral efficacy, Organizational Vigilantism, social cognitive theory
Received: 22 Jan 2026; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhang, Wang and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Huili Ye
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