Research papers considered for analysis

Question:

• Compare and contrast three business research papers as to describe how the researchers considered ethical concerns, ensured validity, performed data collection, and defined measurements using proper scales.

• Explain why the researchers exhibited similarities and differences in how they considered ethical concerns, ensured validity, performed data collection, and defined measurements using proper scales.
 
• Derive two rules given the above analysis.
 
• Explain why the rules you derived is important.

The aim of the essay is to contrast and compare three different article business research papers based on the way the researcher has defined the variables and the theoretical framework. The three essays considered for the analysis and comparison is based on leadership styles, its impact and consequences on the performance and employee outcome. The three articles are compared with respect to different methods and measures that are used by the researcher. The first article is examines the impact of transformational, transactional and non-transactional leadership on the outcomes of the workforce in International Luxury Hotels which also included the additional effort, efficiency and the satisfaction with the manager. The second article is studies the role of top management ethical leadership through ethical and procedural justice climate on the organizational performance. The third article considers the relationship between the ethical leadership and the work-related well being which is of two types: work engagement and emotional exhaustion (Alshammari, N. Almutairi & Fahad Thuwaini, 2015). The essay will focus on the similarities and differences in the way the researcher approached the research.

The researcher of Article 1 collected data from the employees of the eleven 4-star hotels in Spain. The researcher performed sequence of statistical analyses which identified the factors of three leadership approach through the multi-factor leadership questionnaire (MLQ), examined the impact of leadership styles on the outcome of the employees and assessed the restraining consequence of the diverse types of ownership of hotels on the connection between the leadership styles and employee result (Quintana, Park & Cabrera, 2014). The data analysis included ten hypotheses and the data collected was based on the paper based survey from the employees of the international hotels. The paper based survey was conducted on 405 employees of three departments of the eleven hotels. The total valid responses that were collected were only 191 with the response rate to be 24.6%, 18.3%, 23.1% and 34% for the reception, restaurant, housekeeping and other staffs of the department. The content validity of the instrument is ensured by the researcher by an invitation to the group of hotel professionals requested evaluation of the sample and the clarity of the process. The responses of the respondents were calculated based on a 5- point Likert scale. According to the MLQ measurements, a professional panel and the pre-test ensured the content validity. The data analysis of carried out as descriptive analysis and the Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis which tested the hypotheses with the help of SEM and multiple regression analysis. Although the research did not include any ethical concern but the fact that the employees have participated in the survey ensures that the ethical concern has been expressed by the researcher and permission and requests have been made for the completion of the research.

Comparison of research methods and measures

In the Structural estimation model, there were two variables of transformational leadership which is the idealized attributes and intellectual simulation. The researcher also considered three dependent variables for the commencement of the multiple regression analysis. The dependent variables are transformational leadership as idealized attributes, idealized behavior, inspiration motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual simulation, transactional leadership as conditional reward and management by exception (active and passive) and the Non-transactional leadership as Laissez- Faire. The dependent variables are Satisfaction, added effort and the effectiveness.

The theoretical framework developed by the researcher recommended incorporating factors to derive efficient management of leadership styles to enhance the employee outcomes within the hotel industry:

• Improving the leadership qualities of the managers
• Encouragement of the employees by rewards and recognition
• Training for increasing the association between the employees and the employers

The theoretical framework of the Article 2 is empirically tested using the multi source data acquired from 4468 employees of the 147 Korean companies covering different industries. The research focused on two firm level outcome variables which are the organizational citizen behavior (OCB) and financial performance. The researcher framed five hypotheses based in the relationship between the top management ethical leadership and the organizational outcomes. The hypotheses was test using a corporate survey data collection method by the Korean Research Institute of Vocational Education and Training and the financial performance of each of the organization was obtained from each of the organization acquired by the Korean Investors Service (KIS) (Shin, Sung, Choi & Kim, 2014). The researcher conducted stratified random sampling to draw the sample from the private organization listed under the KIS. The corporate survey conducted over 4231 employees where the responses were based on five-point Likert scale.

The control variables are organization size, manufacturing industry, banking industry, service industry, construction industry, top management ethical leadership. Ethical climate, procedural justice climate, Firm level OCB and the financial performance. The researcher has taken permission from the employees and the top management of all the companies on conducting the survey without disclosing any information of any employee and managers.

The theoretical framework implemented by the research had suggested certain aspects that needs to be considered to improve the ethical leadership quality so that the performance of the firm is improved:

• Appointing appropriate managers.
• Shaping the cognition and behavior of the organizational members
• Formulating the ethical norms within the organization
• Provision of training to both the employees and employers

The study of Article 3 scrutinized the reconciling role of trust in supervisor. The researcher conducted survey to collect data from 216 trainee accountants from an array of organization. In this research, the structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the five hypotheses (Chughtai, Byrne & Flood, 2014). The survey was conducted at two time periods. For the descriptive statistics the variables are gender, age, ethical leadership, trust in supervisor, work engagement and emotional exhaustion. For the measurement model there are four latent variables such as the ethical leadership, trust in supervisor, work engagement and emotional exhaustion. The researcher had been concerned about the ethical aspects of the survey and so the Research Ethics Committee of the researcher’s university had granted ethical approval for the conduct of the research.

Theoretical framework:

In this article that theoretical framework which the researcher has used to improve the well being:

• Improving the relationship between the supervisor and trainees
• Developing the trust between the trainee and supervisor
• Ensuring that the organization has high employee engagement

Both the article 1 and article 2 defined the dependent variables to be the leadership styles. The method of data collection is similar as both the type of researcher used the survey method based on questionnaires provided to the employees. The independent variables for both the research are the organizational outcomes and performances. The measurement of the survey for both the article is the five-point Likert scale which helped to analyze the organizational behavior. As far as the third article is concerned, the dependent variables include the ethical leadership. The third article also conducted a survey similar to article 1 and 2 but with two time periods. The reasons for the definition of the variables are that all the three articles are based on the leadership styles and patterns in different sectors. The first and the third article both had used the SEM and multiple regression analysis to obtain the results (Chatterjee, 2014).

Data collection and measurement techniques

The operationalized variables in the first article include three divisions in the leadership style which are transformational, transactional and non-transactional leadership and the employee outcome is also segregated into additional effort, efficiency and the satisfaction with the manager. The second and the third article deal in the impact of ethical leadership on the organizational outcomes and the employee well being (Chughtai, 2015).

The difference in the third article and the first and second article is that in the third article the survey is conducted within two periods whereas the other articles conducted survey within a single period. The reason behind the differences is to avoid the common method variance. The difference in the defining variables is as such similar except that the leadership styles are operationalized in the article 1 and it is the ethical leadership that is considered in the article 2 and 3 (Garrett, 2010).

Conclusion:

The time is one of the most important elements of research design. The analysis has revealed that a casual relationship implies that some time has gone between the cause and the consequences. Hence for the research design it is the time element that must be incorporated so that the common variance method is eliminated and the analysis is done clearly. Thus, the three articles though focus on the aspect of leadership styles and the ethical leadership and their impact on the employee performance, outcome and the well being. All the research are based on the questionnaire survey but the results data analysis for some research is the SEM and for second research is the PLS (Lu & Lin, 2013). Although each of the research has certain limitations but it is the time dimension that must be incorporated within the research method (Weber & Gerde, 2010).

References

Alshammari, A., N. Almutairi, N., & Fahad Thuwaini, S. (2015). Ethical Leadership: The Effect on Employees. IJBM, 10(3). doi:10.5539/ijbm.v10n3p108

Chatterjee, D. (2014). Leadership in Innovators and Defenders: The Role of Cognitive Personality Styles. Industry And Innovation, 21(5), 430-453. doi:10.1080/13662716.2014.959314

Chughtai, A. (2015). Creating safer workplaces: The role of ethical leadership.Safety Science, 73, 92-98. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2014.11.016

Chughtai, A., Byrne, M., & Flood, B. (2014). Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Well-Being: The Role of Trust in Supervisor. J Bus Ethics, 128(3), 653-663. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2126-7

Garrett, M. (2010). What Is the Ethical Role of the Expert?. Leadership Manage. Eng., 10(2), 94-95. doi:10.1061/(asce)lm.1943-5630.0000060

KOZAK, M., & UCA, S. (2008). Effective Factors in the Constitution of Leadership Styles: A Study of Turkish Hotel Managers. Anatolia, 19(1), 117-134. doi:10.1080/13032917.2008.9687057

Lu, C., & Lin, C. (2013). The Effects of Ethical Leadership and Ethical Climate on Employee Ethical Behavior in the International Port Context. J Bus Ethics,124(2), 209-223. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1868-y

Quintana, T., Park, S., & Cabrera, Y. (2014). Assessing the Effects of Leadership Styles on Employees’ Outcomes in International Luxury Hotels. J Bus Ethics,129(2), 469-489. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2170-3

Shin, Y., Sung, S., Choi, J., & Kim, M. (2014). Top Management Ethical Leadership and Firm Performance: Mediating Role of Ethical and Procedural Justice Climate. J Bus Ethics, 129(1), 43-57. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2144-5

Weber, J., & Gerde, V. (2010). Organizational Role and Environmental Uncertainty as Influences on Ethical Work Climate in Military Units. J Bus Ethics, 100(4), 595-612. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0698-4