ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case analysis examining the impact of ethical leadership and leadership effectiveness on employee's turnover in high education institutions, with an emphasis on the mediating role of work engagement. The analysis is developed using a quantitative approach including data triangulation for testing a previously proposed research model which is now applied in Ibagué University.
Model validation has been empirically tested, using primary data collected from employees through all hierarchical levels. Most relevant findings validate “ethical leadership” and “leadership effectiveness” both play an important role in predicting “turnover intention”. Furthermore, “work engagement” and a new emerging variable “work pride” mediate the relationship between ethical leadership, leadership effectiveness, and turnover intention. The chapter also describes the most relevant Ibagué University structural changes, challenges, and consequences resulting from COVID-19 pandemic, and how university leaders deal with goal achievement in recent times.
Finally, a complemented new model is proposed with practical implications for being applied in other high education institutions. New model seeks to demonstrate a leadership approach, which is both ethical and effective at the same time is more likely to create a productive and ethical work climate, conducive to employees' work engagement and, therefore, increasing work pride while reducing turnover intention.
