The Relationship between Managers' Ethical Leadership Style with Professional Commitment and Ethical Sensitivity among Physicians of a Military Hospital

Introduction: Doctors as leaders and managers of different departments of a hospital are morally a model for students and clients. Hospitals, as organizations, according to their nature, should be sensitive to ethical issues and to the commitment of doctors. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between managers’ ethical leadership style with professional commitment and moral sensitivity of physicians in a military hospital. Materials and Methods: This study is descriptive and correlational. The research population included all physicians of a military hospital in Tehran. To collect data, ethical leadership, professional commitment, and moral sensitivity questionnaires have been used with Likert’s five-point scale. The reliability of each questionnaire was 0.88, 0.94, 0.82, according to Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 22, Smart PLS version 2, using one-sample t-test, Pearson correlation, regression analysis in synchronous manner and structural equations. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant relationship between hospital managers’ ethical leadership style and physicians’ ethical sensitivity with a correlation coefficient of 0.776 at 0.01 level. Also, there is a significant relationship between the managers’ ethical leadership style and the level of professional commitment of physicians in the hospital with a correlation coefficient of 0.778 at 0.01 level. The results of this study showed that the structural model of the study is well-suited. According to the findings, ethical leadership status predicts the level of ethical sensitivity and professional commitment. Also, ethical leadership has a positive effect, both directly and indirectly, on the mediation of professional commitment to physicians’ moral sensitivity. Discussion and Conclusion: According to the findings of the study, it is recommended to have ethical leadership and ethical environment in the hospital so that in addition to providing a proper context for the ethical performance of physicians and staff, it is positively important to promote professional commitment and ethical sensitivity among hospital physicians.