Ethical Leadership in Healthcare Management: The Case of Greek Hospitals

Authors

  • Konstantinos Giannakos PhD Candidate, Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Geopolis, 41500, Greece https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1190-7656
  • Dimitrios Belias Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Geopolis, 41500, Greece https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3409-6875
  • Athanasios Koustelios Professor, Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly
  • Nikolaos Tsigilis Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ecmlg.22.1.5595

Abstract

Ethical Leadership constitutes a pivotal factor for the effective functioning of an organization's workforce, as it is directly linked with the notions of justice, honesty, respect, and social cohesion. The significance of the ethical leadership derives from the fact that they provide guidance to a leader on how to treat the decisions and values of others with respect, how to make decisions that are beneficial rather than detrimental to human well-being, how to aim for justice as the focal point of their decision-making, how to remain sensitive toward the attitudes and feelings of others without exercising manipulation, and how to actively pursue the common good. Within healthcare organizations, where decisions carry direct implications for patient welfare and staff conduct, ethical leadership assumes particular importance. This empirical study examines the psychometric properties of the "Ethical Leadership at Work Questionnaire" (ELW; Kalshoven et al., 2011) within the Greek healthcare sector. This study was conducted on the personnel of public hospitals. To examine the construct's validity, the researchers used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to assess internal consistency. The results confirmed that the ELW has a strong factor structure and high reliability across the questionnaire's parts, consistent with findings from previous work using the same scale and supporting the scale's usefulness in Greek healthcare.

Author Biographies

Konstantinos Giannakos, PhD Candidate, Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Geopolis, 41500, Greece

Konstantinos Giannakos is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly, Greece. His academic interests involve ethical leadership, organizational culture, change management, and health management.

Athanasios Koustelios, Professor, Department of Business Administration, University of Thessaly

Dr. Athanasios Koustelios is Professor of «Human Resources Management» in the Department of Business Administration at the University of Thessaly, Greece. He has published more than 120 papers in internationals and Greek refereed journal, and has more than 180 conference presentations. His research expertise is in the area of human resource management, organizational behaviour and sport management

Nikolaos Tsigilis, Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Dr. Nikolaos Tsigilis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Media Communication, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His research and teaching interests are in research methods, psychometrics, and applied statistical techniques in the field of social sciences.  He has published numerous scientific papers in international and domestic journals

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Published

2026-10-26

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026): The Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ECMLG 2026)

Section

Academic Papers