Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 9, No 3, 2021, pp 247-258 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2021.9326 247|https://giapjournals.com/hssr/index © Baig et al. ETHICAL CLIMATE AND BEHAVIORAL INTEGRITY: A STUDY OF THE DETERMINANTS OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP UNDER POLITICAL MENTORING Waqas Baig 1 , Rizwan Qaiser Danish 2* , Muqqadas Rehman 3 , Muhammad Hasnain 4 , Hafiz Fawad Ali 5 1 Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan; 2*,3,4 Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan; 5 Department of Management Sciences, University of Okara, Pakistan. Email: 1 waqasbaig33@yahoo.com, 2* rqdanish@ibapu.edu.pk, 3 muqqadasrehman@ibapu.edu.pk, 4 hasnain5573019@gmail.com, 5 fawadali94@hotmail.com Article History: Received on 11 th April 2021, Revised on 30 th April 2021, Published on 8 th May 2021 Abstract Purpose of the study: Unethical behavior has been a source of incremental cost in corporations worldwide, and its consequences are detrimental to organizational health. In today’s turbulent environment, the role of leadership becomes even more vital under uncertainties. This study investigates the impact of ethical climate and behavioral integrity on ethical leadership through political mentoring. Methodology: The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed to the employees of various service sectors of health, education, banks, insurance companies, telecommunication, hotels, and transportation. The overall useable response rate was 85% (450 in total). The data were analyzed through SPSS version 22 and ADANCO version 2.2. Main Findings: The findings of the study are evidence of a strong association among behavioral integrity, ethical climate, political mentoring, and ethical leadership. We also found the mediating role of political mentoring between behavioral integrity and ethical leadership and between ethical climate and leadership. Applications of the study: This study is significant for the managers of the service sector in developing the ethical climate. It gives an insight to the leaders that they should guide their subordinates about the environment appropriately. It means that the leader’s role matters in building the organizational employees’ character and success. Novelty/Originality of the study: In this study, the role of political mentoring in ethical climate has been recognized, which contributes to business ethics. Furthermore, it bridges the literature gap related to the mediating role of political mentoring in an organizational climate. Keywords: Political Mentoring, Ethical Climate, Ethical Leadership, Behavioral Integrity, Social Learning Theory. INTRODUCTION In this turbulent and contemporary business environment, a leader’s behavior is considered ethical based on transparency, integrity, and authenticity (Saha et al., 2020 ). The concept of ethical leadership can be traced from previous researchers such as Loftus et al. (1978) ; Avolio and Gardner (2005) . Ethical leadership can be explained as an independent concept with two dimensions: a moral manager and a moral person (Danish et al., 2021 ). The moral person shows the leader's attributes, whereas the moral manager represents the efforts made by the leader to promote ethical behavior (Wang et al., 2017 ). Ethical leadership is considered the influential element for any business organization ( Zaim et al., 2020 ). A moral person perceives ethical leadership as the right behavior, moral trait, and good decision-making. In contrast, a moral manager allocates these ethical characteristics to subordinates by using discipline and reward, role modeling, and communication (Trevino et al. 2000 ). The theoretical concept of social learning theory helps to explain ethical leadership within the organization (Danish et al., 2021 ). It can be interpreted as the way the ethical leaders guide the behavior of their employees at job place (Mo & Shi, 2017 ). Bandura (1986) ; Charles (2016) defined social learning theory as the individuals learn from the punishments, rewards and also learn from others through imitation, modeling, and observation. It further explains that individuals pay attention to follow the behavior of attractive and credible role models. Leaders are considered legitimate normative role models. Employees in organizations are directly influenced by their leaders because they have the power to implement rewards and punishment. In this context, the social learning theory allows the individuals to learn from their surroundings because most of the pressures are built up through their interactions with other individuals (Bandura, 1986 ). Simha and Cullen (2012) explained that an organizational ethical climate stimulates the individual viewpoint towards work involvement and behavior that escalates the organizational performance. Furthermore, Victor and Cullen (1988) mentioned that ethical climate depends on employees’ perceptions of procedures and policies in the organization that enhance ethical conduct and improve employees’ attitudes and behavior (Elci & Alpkan, 2009 ). Ethical climate indicates the positive effect