Moderating Effect: Ethical Leadership and the Person-Organisation Value Congruence-Performance Link in Tertiary Institutions of South West, Nigeria

Improving employee performance within Nigeria’s tertiary institutions remains critical to the realisation of the national educational and developmental objectives. This study examines the direct relationship between ethical leadership and employee performance as well as the mediating effect of person-organisation value congruence in the relationship. Anchored on Social Exchange Theory and the Attraction-Selection-Attrition Framework, this study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. Primary data were acquired from 120 academic and non-academic staff across three public universities in South-Western Nigeria using structured questionnaires. The regression and mediation analyses with Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 4) were used to analyse the data. The outcomes from the study indicated a significant positive direct association between ethical leadership and employee performance (β = 0.52, p < .001). Moreover, person-organisation value congruence was shown to partially mediate the relationship (indirect effect: β = 0.18, 95% CI [0.08, 0.29]). The study affirms ethical leadership as a key predictor of employee performance and that its impact is substantially enhanced by promoting a culture of shared values. This contributes to the integration of leadership and fit theories in a new context of practical value, proposing university leadership and HR policy to foster a high-performance, values-congruent employee base.