THE IMPACT ETHICAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEES' ETHICAL BEHAVIOR AND JOB PERFORMANCE IN APPAREL SECTOR IN RATNAPURA DISTRICT

Abstract

This study explores the impact of ethical leadership and employees' ethical behavior on job performance within the apparel sector in the Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka' Using a sample of 288 employees, the research employed descriptive, correlation, regression, and mediation analyses to achieve its objectives' The findings reveal high levels of ethical leadership, ethical behavior, and job performance among employees' A strong positive correlation was observed between both ethical leadership and ethicar behavior with job performance, indicating that ethicar practices significantly enhance employee effectiveness and productivity' Theregressionanalysisfurtherconfirmedthatethicalleadershipandethicalbehavior together explain a substantial portion of the variance in job performance' reinforcing theimportanceofethicalpracticestnotganizationalsuccess.Thestudycontributesto the existing literature by offering empirical evidence from a localized context and providingpracticalinsightsformanagersandpolicymakersintheapparelindustry. whiie the study offers valuable insights, it is limited by its focus on a single sector and region, reliance on self-reported data, and cross-sectional design' To address these limitations, future research is recommended to expand to other sectors and regions' adoptlongitudinaldesigns,andincludeadditionalorganizationalvariables'Overall' the study underscores the criticai role of ethics in driving employee performance and offersactionablelecommendationsforbuildingethicalleadershipandculturesinthe workPlace. Keywords:EthicalLeadership'EthicalBehavior'JobPerformance