The relationship between ethical leadership behaviors and perception of organizational justice: A research on educational institutions in Kocaeli

This study examines the relationship between ethical leadership behaviors and perception of organizational justice. In order to strengthen the findings of this research, the study attempts to illustrate the impact of sociodemographic factors on ethical leadership and organizational justice. In this regard, a total of 1289 teachers (955 females and 334 males), who have served in all kinds of schools and grades in Gölcük, Başiskele and İzmit districts of Kocaeli since 2019-2020 were studied. Through the application of "Ethical Leadership Scale" the research attempts to determine the participant teachers' perception of ethical leadership; while the organizational justice scale is used to determine their perception of organizational justice. The data found in this research was analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 statistics program. Following the normality test, Pearson Correlation Analysis (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient), Tamhane's T2 Analysis, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal Wallis H Test were utilized for sub-problem tests. In addition, the study measures statistically whether the sociodemographic factors (variables such as gender, age, level of education, professional seniority, maritial status, duration of service and types of schools) of the teachers' executives play a role in their level of perception of ethical leadership behaviour. According to the perceptions of teachers, their executives' ethical leadership behavior did not show a statistically significant difference based on gender, professional seniority and marital status variables (p> 0.05); while, variables such as age, level of education, duration of service and types of schools were found to be statistically significant (p <0.05). Regarding the perception of organizational justice measured in accordance with socio-demographic factors; the research found that the paticipant teachers' perceptions of organizational justice did not differ statistically based on variables of gender, age groups, professional seniority and marital status (p> 0.05). On the other hand, the research found that the paticipant teachers' perceptions of organizational justice, when measured in terms of education level, duration of school and types of schools, differed significantly by statistical means(p <0.05). In conclusion, the research found that socio-demographic factors have a significant impact on the formation of teachers' perceptions of ethical leadership and organizational justice. Moreover, the data showed that there is a positive and strongly significant relationship (r = 0.91, p <0.01) between the executives' perceptions of ethical leadership and their perceptions of organizational justice. The findings of this research are consistent with the literature. However, it is important to note that the perceptions of the concept of ethical leadership and organizational justice are associated with highly complex processes involving various elements; thus, cannot be grasped fully by merely analyzing socio-demographic factors. Overall, the study illustrates that the executives' ability to demonstrate ethical leadership behaviour has significant effects on the perception of organizational justice.