Abstract
Drawing on social exchange theory, this paper theorizes and tests a model linking ethical leadership with workplace communication of health and safety risks by employees – termed ‘safety voice’ – regarding the dangers posed by COVID-19. Our study, conducted with 511 employees from UK companies, revealed that ethical leadership encourages safety voice through increasing the perceived health risk of COVID-19 and reducing ambiguity associated with making ethical decisions in the workplace. Our findings thereby underscore the importance of good ethical conduct by leaders for ensuring health and safety risks are managed and communicated effectively within organizations during crises. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study, and highlight further opportunities for future research to address the ethical dimensions of leadership and organizational risk management and communication.
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