Ethical leadership and innovative work behavior among the employees of Jose Rizal Memorial State University Dapitan and Dipolog Campuses

This study aimed to assess the ethical leadership and how it affects the innovative work behavior of the employees at Jose Rizal Memorial State University Dapitan and Dipolog campus during the academic year 2024-2025. It utilized a descriptive correlational research design using the quantitative approach. Three hundred eighty (380) employees participated in the survey. Frequency count, percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Man Whitney U Test, and Spearman Rank-Order Correlation Coefficient (Spearman rho) were the statistical tools used with Jamovi as the statistical software. The result revealed that fifty percent of the employees of JRMSU were females, they were fairly distributed to the different age brackets, almost 73% pursued graduate and post-graduate studies, 60.27% were 10 years and below in the service, and 51.84% were occupying teaching positions. The level of ethical leadership of employees of JRMSU was very high in terms of ethics of care and ethics of justice but only high in terms of ethics of critique. The level of innovative work behavior of the employees of JRMSU was very high. There existed a significant difference in the level of ethical leadership when the respondents were grouped in terms of gender, age, educational attainment, years of experience, and types of employment. There existed a significant difference in the level of innovative work behavior when the respondents were grouped in terms of age, educational attainment, years of service, and types of employment. However, there was no significant difference in the level of innovative work behavior when the respondents were grouped in terms of gender. There existed a high positive correlation between the levels of ethical leadership and innovative work behavior. Based on the findings, the author recommends that the top officials of JRMSU (Board of Regents and Campus Directors) utilize the findings of this study as valuable input to the University plan for continuous improvement. The employees would use the findings of the study as a source for reflection on their ethical leadership and innovative work behavior.