The present study examined the mediating and moderating processes in the relationship between ethical leadership and employee citizenship behavior aswell as work withdrawal behavior using a sample of 277 employees and their supervisors from the People's Republic of China. Results revealed that ethical leadership negatively relates to politics perceptions and that politics perceptions partially mediate the negative influence of ethical leadership on uncertainty. We also found that uncertainty partially mediates the politics perceptions-emotional exhaustion relationship. Further politics perceptions interact with political skill to influence emotional exhaustion through uncertainty. Finally emotional exhaustion fully mediates the uncertainty-citizenship behavior as well as the uncertainty–work withdrawal behavior relationships. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.