Revisiting happiness at work within the hospitality sector: revealing the power of ethical leadership and group diversity

Purpose Individual happiness at the workplace allows hospitality organizations to foster an optimistic work environment and endorse the well-being of their employees, which is essential for achieving long-term success. While ethical leadership has been verified as an interpreter of happiness, however, enhancing employee happiness at work remains a gap. The current study seeks to fill this gap by utilizing a multilevel model of the direct and indirect relationship between ethical leadership and happiness at work and also the mediation of group diversity in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The study involved a cross-sectional study with a quantitative methodology. The authors collected data from 36 Jordanian hospitality teams. A total number of 960 participants were selected using the convenience sampling method. The model of the study was validated by multilevel structural equation modeling, and the hypothesized relationships were tested using SPSS 26. Findings Results showed that ethical leadership directly promoted happiness and indirectly through group diversity. Moreover, group diversity was found to mediate this relationship. Practical implications Findings propose that leaders within hospitality organizations can attain happiness at work by showing more ethical leadership. Practitioners within the hospitality industry likewise ought to recognize that promoting altruistic attitudes among followers is capable of guiding ethical leadership into happiness at work. Moreover, building a developmental culture is crucial for hospitality teams to reinforce the impact of ethical leadership on happiness at work. Originality/value The current study magnifies the leadership-happiness research by unlocking both the direct as well as indirect links, the mediation effect, between ethical leadership and happiness at work.