The role of ethical leadership to employees work engagement: a social learning theory perspective

Purpose - This study examines the role of ethical leadership in building employee trust, knowledge sharing (KS), job satisfaction and then influencing employee engagement in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach - The sample included 610 employees of Indonesia Islamic Bank, obtained through an online survey. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses.Findings - Ethical leadership actively contributes to the growth of employee trust, exchange knowledge frequent and job satisfaction and then become key points to enhance employees' engagement. Research limitations/implications - Future research is required to validate across regions and organisations to in light of the findings of the topic study. Practical implications - Organisational leaders and employees obtain a better understanding of ethics and organisation management field, hence employees and leaders must encourage ethical values as code of conduct in the workplace.Originality/value - This study demonstrated the extent of the Khan concept for a combination of employee engagement, ethical leadership and KS. It also incorporates employee job satisfaction and the organisational engagement among employees.Peer review - The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ IJSE-03-2023-0218