Ethical Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Hospitality Industry in Bahrain: The Mediating Role of Machiavellianism

The study was conducted to determine the following: a) the level of Machiavellianism, ethical leadership, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of employees in the hospitality industry; b) the significant relationship between ethical leadership and OCB, ethical leadership and Machiavellianism, and Machiavellianism and OCB; c) the mediating role of Machiavellianism in the relationship between ethical leadership and OCB. The study conducted a survey questionnaire to 27 respondents from managers and employees in the hospitality industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study’s findings revealed that managers and employees have shown neutral level of Machiavellianism, with a mean of 4.04; above average ethical leadership with a mean of 3.51; and very high organizational citizenship with a mean of 3.54. Furthermore, there is a very strong positive significant relationship (Spearman rho values) between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. there is no significant relationship between ethical leadership and Machiavellianism, and that there is a weak positive relationship, but it is not significant between organizational citizenship behavior and Machiavellianism. According to the findings, very high ethical leadership in hotel employees influence their organizational citizenship behavior though Machiavellianism does not serve as a mediator in this relationship, the hospitality industry in Bahrain has much benefit to be derived from these attributes of its employees.