Ethical Leadership, Organisational Justice, and Employee Citizenship Behaviour in Nigerian Public Universities

This research empirically investigates the mediating role of organisational justice in the relationship between ethical leadership and employee citizenship behaviour in Nigerian public universities, drawing respondents from universities in Adamawa State (North East) and Edo State (South South). Ethical leadership and citizenship behaviour are critical determinants of institutional effectiveness in academic settings, yet their relationship in the Nigerian university context, mediated by justice perceptions, remains underexplored. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 225 academic and administrative staff. Structural equation modelling was employed for hypothesis testing. The study tests a model in which ethical leadership, comprising integrity, fairness, concern for others, and ethical guidance, influences employee citizenship behaviour through distributive, procedural, and interactional justice perceptions. Findings reveal that procedural justice fully mediates the ethical leadership-citizenship behaviour relationship, while distributive justice partially mediates the link. Interactional justice showed the strongest direct moderating effect on the relationship, suggesting that the quality of personal leadership interactions drives citizenship behaviour more powerfully than systemic fairness perceptions alone. These findings extend social exchange theory and organisational justice research into the Nigerian higher education management context. Recommendations include ethical leadership training for departmental heads, justice-oriented HR policy reviews, and transparent promotion and reward systems. Keywords: ethical leadership, organisational justice, citizenship behaviour, public universities, Nigeria.