Ethical Leadership as a Catalyst for Psychological Empowerment in Bintulu’s Oil Refinery Industry

Ethical leadership is essential for cultivating a productive and competitive workforce, with psychologically empowered employees as a significant result of effective leadership. Despite its significance, scant research has examined the impact of ethical leadership on psychological empowerment within Malaysia's oil refinery industry. This study seeks to investigate the influence of ethical leadership on employees' psychological empowerment in the oil refinery sector in Bintulu, Sarawak. A quantitative methodology was employed to gather data from a random sample of 108 employees via a 26-item questionnaire. The Ethical Leadership Scale developed by Brown et al. was utilised to evaluate ethical leadership, whereas Spreitzer’s Psychological Empowerment Model (1995) was implemented to measure employee empowerment. Descriptive and inferential analyses indicated elevated levels of ethical leadership and psychological empowerment within the examined organisation. The results demonstrate that ethical leadership practices substantially enhance employee empowerment, fostering a workforce that gains from leadership exemplifying ethical conduct. This study elucidates the beneficial correlation between ethical leadership and psychological empowerment, enhancing comprehension of how ethical leadership cultivates empowered employees in the oil refinery industry of Bintulu, Sarawak.