Article Review: Student Perception of Ethical Leadership

This report is a comprehensive article review focusing on the study by Birel (2019) which examines undergraduate and graduate students' perceptions of ethical leadership behaviors of academic staff. The review critically assesses the research question, which investigates how perceptions of leadership change from graduate to undergraduate students and the influence of factors like education, gender, and age. It explores the definitions and role of ethics, analyzing the study's methodology, including the use of the Ethical Leadership Scale, and statistical methods like mean, t-tests, and ANOVA. The review highlights the study's strengths, such as the appropriate use of statistical tests and the lucid presentation of results, while also pointing out weaknesses, including the lack of a clear hypothesis and detailed descriptions of procedures. The findings indicate that graduate students have more positive perceptions of ethical leadership than undergraduates, and that gender and age also influence these perceptions. The report concludes by assessing the study's limitations and its contribution to the understanding of ethical leadership within educational contexts.

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW
Article Review
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1ARTICLE REVIEW
Birel, F. K. (2019). The Perceptions of Undergraduate and Graduate Students about
Ethical Leadership Behaviors of Academic Staff. International Education
Studies, 12(3), 71-80.
The study conducted by the authors on “The Perceptions of Undergraduate and
Graduate Students about Ethical Leadership Behaviors of Academic Staff” has been reviewed
critically through literature review. The main research question that arises that the study aims
to answer is how perceptions of leadership changes from graduate to undergraduate and how
the factors such as education, gender and age might influence their perception. The literature
review explores the definitions of ethics, the components and the role of ethics in personal
and professional life. The past studies create a solid historical base for the study. The study
then analyses specific research on ethical leadership in business and educational
organizations in order to relate them to the problem. The previous studies have been related
to the research problem explicitly and a theoretical framework for the research has been
established successfully.
The population identified in the research is all the students studying in third year in
the different departments of Ziya Gökalp Faculty of Education of Dicle University. All the
students belonged to the academic session of 2013-2014. The students of the same institution
that continued their study in graduate program in the same session were included in the study.
All of the above mentioned students were the population as well as the sample of the study.
The population as well as the sample is clearly defined. As the population is equal to the
sample size, no sample selection method has been used in the study. All the students have
been taken as sample thus, it is likely sampling has been done unbiased. The sample size is
216, which conforms to the guideline of minimum sample size.
The study uses Ethical Leadership Scale was used to collect data in the study. The
paper also uses mean, t-test and standard deviation and ANOVA variance analysis for data
analysis. The rationale for choosing these instruments for data collection and measurement
has not been provided by the author. The instruments that have been used are appropriate to
measure the variables. Mean is used to determine the average opinion in a research T-test
instrument is used in order to determine the difference between the mean in two groups. Here
the t-test determines the difference in leadership opinion between the graduate and
undergraduate student groups. These instruments are appropriate in their use. The use of
ANOVA test method is generally used with more than two groups. Thus, here the use of
ANOVA is overreaching. No evidence has been given by the author which, indicates that
each of the instruments that have been chosen are appropriate.
The reliability of the instruments has been discussed using Cronbach’s Alpha internal
consistency test. The coefficient of .97 has been found which indicates that that the internal
consistency is high and the scale is highly reliable. The coefficients of reliability have been
presented through different types of sub-dimension of the scale. The paper does not discuss
the validity of the instruments. The reliability assessment uses subtest reliabilities as well.
The research design used by the author is Descriptive Statistical Method which is appropriate
to answer research questions and test the hypothesis. The procedures has not been described
detail, neither has their validity and reliability proved. Thus, the procedures cannot be
replicated by other researchers.
The study does not describe the control procedures, though control variables such as
age, gender and education level were used as moderating factors. The dependent variable in

2ARTICLE REVIEW
the study is the ethical leadership behavior of academic staff in educational institutions and
the independent variable is the perception of the undergraduate and graduate students on the
same. The paper does not contain any clear or concise hypothesis neither any declaration has
been made that serves as hypothesis. The study presents the goals and the relationship of
controlling variables like age, gender and education on the independent variable, student
perception. The paper tests the controlling factors that actually form the hypothesis in
retrospect.
The results of mean, standard deviation and independent sample t-test find that the
perceptions of graduates towards ethical leadership of academic staff are far more positive
than the undergraduate students. The t-test on gender consideration shows that the perception
of ethical leadership of academic staff is more positive among the male students than the
female. The ANOVA test shows that different age groups have different perceptions on
ethical leadership. The ‘p’ value found in the ANOVA test is less than 0.5 and thus is highly
significant. The Turkey HSD analysis shows that students belonging to the age group of 22-
25 have significantly different perception of ethical leadership than that of the 26 years of age
group. Through the results the null hypothesis was rejected and alternative hypothesis was
proved. The statistical tests of significance as described in the paper are appropriate and
support the hypothesis and the design of the paper. These create the strength of the paper.
. The paper presents relevant statistical data though no declaration of the result
significance probability has been made prior to the data analysis. No concrete hypothesis was
created by the author thus, though the results lead to the understanding of the hypothesis in
retrospect. The degree of freedom and effect size in interpreting the test results have not been
mentioned. The presentation of the results is lucid and gives a clear idea of the findings and
their significance. The results are presented clearly and the relationship found between the
dependent and independent variables have been clearly explained. The results are complete in
nature and shows clear relationship among the perception of ethical leadership and
demographic variable, thus, addressing the problem of the paper. The tables and figures that
have been used in the paper for the presentation of the test results are well organized and
easily understandable. The possible effects of the variables and the agreement or
disagreement of the findings with previous research are not discussed in the paper. The
results are not reproducible by future scientists. These are all weaknesses of the paper. The
paper has other weaknesses as well. There is no research rationale that is presented, neither
have the rationale for choosing the instruments and methodology been discussed. The results
though find clear relation between the variables, due to the lack of clear hypothesis; the
results could not be tested against past literature.

3ARTICLE REVIEW
References
Birel, F. K. (2019). The Perceptions of Undergraduate and Graduate Students about Ethical
Leadership Behaviors of Academic Staff. International Education Studies, 12(3), 71-
80.