Social Psychology Research

Abstract Introduction: Workplace bullying is a serious problem among employees that leads to negative behaviors in the workplace. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effect of ethical leadership on job performance, with the mediating roles of workplace bullying and knowledge hiding and the moderating role of job engagement among employees in the insurance industry. Method: This study is applied in purpose and descriptive in method, employing structural equation modeling (SEM) over a six-month period during the first half of 2025. The statistical population included all employees of Alborz Insurance in 2025 (N = 1,585). Based on the Krejcie-Morgan table, the required sample size was 310 individuals, selected using stratified random sampling. Data collection instruments included the Organizational Bullying Scale (Freire & Pinto, 2022), the Ethical Leadership Scale (Freire & Pinto, 2022), the Job Engagement Scale (Salanova & Schaufeli, 2006), the Knowledge Hiding Scale (Abdullah, Dechun, Ali & Usman, 2019), and the Job Performance Scale (Bouckenooghe, Zafar & Raja, 2015). Reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha, and validity was examined through confirmatory factor analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS 26 and PLS 3 statistical software. Results: The results showed that ethical leadership did not have a significant direct effect on job performance (path coefficient = 0.620, t-statistic = 1.838). However, ethical leadership had a significant negative effect on workplace bullying (path coefficient = -0.272, t = 5.913) and on knowledge hiding (path coefficient = -0.789, t = 4.343). Workplace bullying had a significant positive effect on knowledge hiding (path coefficient = 0.343, t = 7.385) and a significant negative effect on job performance (path coefficient = -0.221, t = 3.563). Job engagement significantly moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance. Furthermore, workplace bullying mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and job performance, and knowledge hiding also mediated this relationship. Conclusion: Ethical leadership does not directly enhance job performance; rather, its influence is transmitted indirectly through the reduction of workplace bullying and knowledge hiding. Additionally, job engagement serves as a critical moderating factor that strengthens the positive effect of ethical leadership on performance. These findings suggest that organizations aiming to improve employee performance should focus not only on promoting ethical leadership but also on actively reducing bullying and knowledge-hiding behaviors while fostering job engagement. Without such intermediary mechanisms, ethical leadership alone may be insufficient to drive performance outcomes.