The causal relationship between moral leadership and moral climate on the fatigue of nurses with the mediating role of perceived stress

The present study aimed to test the structural model of the effect of ethical leadership and ethical climate on nurses' fatigue, with an emphasis on the mediating role of perceived stress. In the form of a correlational design, 161 participants from the study population, including nursing staff working in teaching hospitals affiliated with Khorramabad University of Medical Sciences in 1402-1403, were selected using a cluster random sampling method in the form of dividing hospitals into two groups: city centers and suburbs. The data was collected using the Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (MFI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Spocker's Ethical Climate Scale, and Brown et al.'s Ethical Leadership Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as a statistical method to analyze the study data, and Amos software was used to analyze the data. The results showed that ethical leadership and ethical climate have a significant relationship with fatigue. Also, a mediation test using the bootstrap method showed the importance of perceived stress in the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical climate as well as fatigue. The research findings indicate that nurses' fatigue and perceived stress are influenced by ethical leadership and ethical climate. Therefore, strategies and solutions such as creating ethical leadership and creating the necessary ethical climate for them can be used to reduce fatigue and perceived stress in nurses.