The Korea Local Administration Review

This study explores how ethical leadership influences job performance and how person-supervisor fit moderates the relationship. Building on social exchange theory, this study hypothesizes that ethical leadership is positively associated with job performance and person-supervisor fit shapes the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance based on leader-member exchange theory. Using data drawn from police officers in Gyeonggi southern province, South Korea, this study finds the positive effect of ethical leadership on job performance. Further analysis shows that the person-supervisor fit significantly moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance such that police organizations benefit more from high levels of person-supervisor fit than low levels of person-supervisor fit. The implications and contributions of these results for public administration are discussed.