Perceptions Of Ethical Leadership Research Articles

A Meta-analytic Review of Ethical Leadership Outcomes and Moderators

A growing body of research suggests that follower perceptions of ethical leadership are associated with beneficial follower outcomes. However, some empirical researchers have found contradictory results. In this study, we use social learning and social exchange theories to test the relationship between ethical leadership and follower work outcomes. Our results suggest that ethical leadership is related positively to numerous follower outcomes such as perceptions of leader interactional fairness and follower ethical behavior. Furthermore, we explore how ethical leadership relates to and is different from other leadership styles such as transformational and transactional leadership. Results suggest that ethical leadership is positively associated with transformational leadership and the contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership. With respect to the moderators, our results show mixed evidence for publication bias. Finally, geographical locations of study samples moderated some of the relationships between ethical leadership and follower outcomes, and employee samples from public sector organizations showed stronger mean corrected correlations for ethical leadership–follower outcome relationships.

My Boss is Morally Disengaged: The Role of Ethical Leadership in Explaining the Interactive Effect of Supervisor and Employee Moral Disengagement on Employee Behaviors

The popular press is often fraught with high-profile illustrations of leader unethical conduct within corporations. Leader unethical conduct is undesirable for many reasons, but in terms of managing subordinates, it is particularly problematic because leaders directly influence the ethics of their followers. Yet, we know relatively little about why leaders fail to apply ethical leadership practices. We argue that some leaders cognitively remove the personal sanctions associated with misconduct, which provides them with the “freedom” to ignore ethical shortcomings. Drawing on moral disengagement theory (Bandura 1986, 1999), we examine the relationship between supervisor moral disengagement and employee perceptions of ethical leadership. We then examine the moderating role of employee moral disengagement, such that the negative relationship between supervisor moral disengagement and employee perceptions of ethical leadership is stronger when employee moral disengagement is low versus high. Finally, we examine ethical leadership as a conditional mediator (based on employee moral disengagement) that explains that relationship between supervisor moral disengagement and employee job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results from a multi-source field survey provide general support for our theoretical model.

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP: STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF EXERCISING ETHICAL INFLUENCE IN ORGANIZATION

Today’s rapidly changing economic and social environment requires reconsideration of leadership issues, a special attention paying to ethical issues that are an integral part of socially responsible business. There are numerous studies on the subject matter of ethical leadership but until now the matter of developing business students’ ethical leadership competences has been hardly touched. This is one of the gaps to be filled if we want to speak about the Europe of knowledge at all. The purpose of the present study is twofold: to summarize the previous research in the field of ethical leadership and to research Latvian business students’ perception of ethical leadership. Hence the tasks of this study are: to conceptualize main notions of the ethical leadership; to disclose the concept of power bases and social influence;) to work out the research design and to perform the survey on student perception of the ethical aspects of exercising influence; to interpret results and work out practical suggestions for teaching business ethics. The primary method used in the present inquiry is quantitative survey applying the Likert scale (the sample of probability is N=206 – business students attending classes in business ethics taught by the author of the present paper). The students were asked to put themselves in the shoes of the business organization manager and to decide for themselves what steps they would take in order to influence their subordinates. The results were grouped according to five power bases (coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, expert power, referent power). No form of power is inherently immoral; still some of them (especially related to power and coercion) can be more unethical in certain circumstances. The results of the survey showed that ethical issues of business leadership in general were of no special concern for students, although they recognized some critical aspects and cases of unethical behavior. The results made it possible to work out suggestions how to improve the course plan in business ethics (introducing new aspects related to leadership; including more subject related case study discussions; preparing practical exercises, etc.). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.8.6987

Do as I Say (and Do): Ethical Leadership Through the Eyes of Lower Ranks

This research expands what is currently known in the organizational sciences about the causes, consequences and unique role of ethical leadership in the workplace. In two different studies and two independent samples of approximately 1,500 workers each in field settings, ethical leadership was positioned as an antecedent, mediator and outcome of variables of pragmatic importance to the workplace. Ethical leadership was the central concept modelled across both studies. Social cognitive theory, social identity theory and leadership categorization theory were used to support a model of how follower rank influences workplace outcomes through the mediating effect of ethical leadership. In addressing the ethical imperative of the employment relationship, these studies contribute to ethical leadership research in two ways. First, findings indicated that a follower’s rank was positively associated with perceptions of ethical leadership, and second, that ethical leadership functioned as a partial mediator between rank/status and desirable workplace outcomes such as organizational fairness climate, career satisfaction and follower affective commitment. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Work–Family Effects of Ethical Leadership

This study examined the relationship between ethical leadership as perceived by employees and the family satisfaction of the employees’ spouses. It also considered the mediating role of the employees’ ethical leadership in the family domain as perceived by their spouses, and the moderating role of the employees’ identification with leader. The results, which were based on a sample of 193 employee–spouse dyads in China, indicated that employees’ perceptions of ethical leadership in the workplace positively influenced their spouses’ family satisfaction. Moreover, employees’ ethical leadership in the family domain mediated this relationship. Furthermore, whereas identification with leader strengthened the relationship between the employees’ perceptions of ethical leadership in the workplace and their ethical leadership demonstrations in the family domain, it weakened the relationship between their ethical leadership demonstrations in the family domain and their spouses’ family satisfaction. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Examining the Effects of Race and Communication Style on Ethical Leadership Perceptions

There is a paucity of ethical leadership research examining the effects that a leader’s demographic characteristics and communication style may have on their ethical leadership perceptions. This gap is surprising given empirical evidence suggesting the influence of ethical leadership perceptions to numerous positive organizational outcomes. This study is one of the first to examine the relationship between the race of a leader, a leader’s ethical communication style, and their subsequent ethical leadership perceptions. Using a sample of nearly 200 respondents, we empirically test under what conditions the race of a leader impacts ethical leadership perceptions. Findings indicate that leaders using high ethical communication can mitigate the effects of aversive racism in ethical leadership judgments. Results suggest that organizational leaders should be concerned about the way in which they communicate ethical messages to their employees.

Leader Moral Identity/Attentiveness and Follower Moral Identity/Attentiveness

In the expanding field of ethical leadership research, little attention has been paid to the association between ethical leaders’ personal ethical characteristics (beyond personality) and perceived ethical leadership, and the potential influence of ethical leadership on followers’ personal ethical characteristics. In this study, we tested a theoretical model to examine leaders’ moral identity and moral attentiveness as antecedents of perceived ethical leadership, and follower moral identity and moral attentiveness as outcomes of ethical leadership. Based upon data from 89 leaders and 460 followers in China, collected at two points in time, we found that leaders’ moral identity and moral attentiveness (group level) are associated with follower’s perceptions of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is, in turn, associated with followers’ moral identity and moral attentiveness (individual level). We found furthermore that ethical leadership mediates the effect of leaders’ moral identity and moral attentiveness on followers’ moral identity and moral attentiveness. We discuss theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research.

Ethical and Unethical Leadership: A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Sectoral Analysis

Current literature on ethical leadership and unethical leadership reflects a Western-based private sector perspective, pointing toward a compliance-oriented understanding of ethical and unethical leadership. As today’s executives increasingly have to ethically lead across different cultures and sectors, it becomes vitally important to develop a more holistic picture how ethical and unethical leadership is perceived in the Western and Eastern cultural cluster and the private and the public/social sector. Addressing this issue, the present study aims to identify cross-cultural and cross-sectoral commonalities and differences in international executives’ perceptions of ethical and unethical leadership. Findings from in-depth interviews (N = 36) with executives from Western and Eastern cultures working in the private or the public/social sector reveal collectively held perceptions of ethical leadership (including leader honesty, integrity, concern for responsibility/sustainability, and people orientation) and of unethical leadership (referring to leader dishonesty, corruption, egocentrism, and manipulation). Results indicate limited support for a compliance-oriented perspective on ethical and unethical leadership but yield a much greater trend toward a value-oriented perspective. Concrete practice examples illustrate these different perspectives. Cultural and sectoral particularities of executive perceptions of ethical and unethical leadership are discussed.

The Perceptions of Ethical and Sustainable Leadership

Sustainable and ethical leadership in the financial industry expand in importance since the financial crisis of 2007–2009. This research examined the level of sustainable and ethical leadership of leaders in mortgage loan originator (MLO) organizations, as perceived by loan originators. The Perceived Leadership Survey (PLIS) developed by Craig and Gustafson (Leadersh Q 9(2):127–145, 1998) and the Sustainable Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) developed by McCann and Holt (Int J Sustain Strat Manage 2(2):204–210, 2011) were utilized for this research. The survey results yielded high levels of both ethical and sustainable leadership. Employees also felt their leadership was encouraging ethical and sustainable behavior. However, correlations between the PLIS and SLQ did not prove to be dependent or closely correlated.

The Impact of Political Skill on Employees’ Perceptions of Ethical Leadership

We investigate whether leader political skill (LPS) increases employees’ perceptions of ethical leadership, even among leaders who acknowledge engaging in deviant behaviors. Study 1 indicated a positive relationship between LPS and ethical leadership perceptions, resulting in improved commitment and reduced stress levels among employees. Study 2 indicated that politically skilled leaders who engaged in deviant behaviors were perceived to be more ethical than deviant leaders with low political skill. Study 2 also suggested that LPS was negatively associated with employee deviance. These results suggest that political skill promotes ethical employee behaviors and other beneficial outcomes but might also help leaders disguise deviant intentions.

Perceptions of Ethical Leadership and the Ethical Environment and Culture: IntegratedEthicsTM Staff Survey Data from the VA Health Care System

Background: To enhance understanding of ethical leadership and the ethical environment and culture (EL/EEC) in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, we mapped selected questions from the VA IntegratedEthics™ Staff Survey (IESS), a national survey of employees’ perceptions of ethical practices, to the Ethical Leadership Compass Points (ELC), a tool to help leaders cultivate an environment and culture that makes it easy for employees to “do the right thing.” The ELC distills insights and principles from organizational and business ethics and provides leaders with specific behaviors that can be incorporated into daily administrative routines. Methods: We analyzed the responses of 88,605 VA employees to the 2010 IESS questions that previously were mapped to the ELC. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize overall distribution of responses to the survey questions, and Pearson's chi-squared tests were performed to assess differences in responses by employee characteristics. Multiple regression analyses examined the association between perceptions of EL/EEC and perceptions of the organizations’ overall ethics quality. Results: Physicians and employees with a higher level of supervisory responsibility were more likely to have the most positive perceptions of EL/EEC and the organization's overall ethics quality. More than three-quarters of the variation in perceptions of overall ethics quality was explained by employee perceptions of EL/EEC. The IESS questions that showed the largest associations with perceptions of overall ethics quality addressed fair allocation of resources across programs and services, avoidance of mixed messages that create ethical uncertainty or conflict, fair treatment of employees, and following up on ethical concerns reported by employees. Conclusions: These results support the important relationships between ethical leadership, an organization's environment and culture, and overall ethics quality. Certain ethical leadership practices may have a larger impact on employees’ perceptions of overall ethics quality than others.

Leader Narcissism and Ethical Context

The link between leader narcissism and follower perceptions of ethical leadership and leader effectiveness, including the potential moderating role of ethical context was investigated. Associations between narcissism and follower perceptions of both ethical and effective leadership were not significant. In highly ethical contexts, however, narcissistic leaders were perceived as ineffective and unethical. These results are interpreted in the context of the fit between leader personality and organizational ethical climate. Implications for research investigating the role that narcissism plays in leadership, as well as organizational responses to narcissistic leaders, are highlighted.

Erratum to: How Ethical Leadership Influence Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior: A Perspective of Intrinsic Motivation

Drawing on the cognitive evaluation theory, we proposed a homologous multilevel model to explore how ethical leadership influenced employees’ innovative work behavior through the mediation of intrinsic motivation at both group and individual level. With questionnaires rated by 302 employees from 34 work units of two companies in the mainland of China, we conducted multilevel analysis to examine our hypotheses. The results showed that individual innovative work behavior was positively related to both individual perception of ethical leadership and group ethical leadership, while individual intrinsic motivation mediated the two relationships. Moreover, group intrinsic motivation mediated the relationship between group ethical leadership and innovative work behavior. The theoretical and practical implications were further discussed.

Ethical Leadership and Subordinate Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Organizational Politics and the Moderating Role of Political Skill

This paper posits that ethical leadership increases important organizational and individual outcomes by reducing politics in the workplace. Specifically, we propose that perceptions of organizational politics serve as a mechanism through which ethical leadership affects outcomes. We further argue that the modeled relationships are moderated by political skill. By means of data from 136 matched pairs of supervisors and subordinates employed by a state agency in the southern US, we found support for our predictions. Specifically, we found that perceptions of organizational politics fully mediated the relationship between perceptions of ethical leadership and helping and promotability ratings. In addition, political skill was found to moderate the direct and indirect effects.

Business Executives’ Perceptions of Ethical Leadership and Its Development

This paper summarized the findings of a qualitative study that examines the perceptions of ethical leadership held by those who perceived themselves to be ethical leaders, and how life experiences shaped the values called upon when making ethical decisions. The experiences of 28 business executives were shared with the researcher, beginning with the recollection of a critical incident that detailed an ethical issue with which each executive had been involved. With the critical incident in mind, each executive told the personal story that explained the development of the values he or she called upon when resolving the ethical issue described. The stories were analyzed through the use of constant comparison, which resulted in the development of two models: (1) a framework for ethical leadership illuminating valued aspects of ethical leaderships and the value perspectives called upon when making ethical decisions, and (2) a model explaining how the executives’ ethical frameworks developed. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on virtue ethics, experiential learning, and human resource development.

Ethical Leadership and Follower Helping and Courtesy: Moral Awareness and Empathic Concern as Moderators

This study uses a multi‐level approach to examine the moderating influence of two aspects of the ethical context on the relationship between ethical leadership and follower helping and courtesy. Using multi‐source data from a field sample of leaders and followers and controlling for transformational leadership, we found that shared perceptions of moral awareness and empathic concern of the work group moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and follower helping and courtesy. Relationships between individual and group‐level perceptions of ethical leadership and these two follower behaviors were positive when moral awareness was low, whereas these relationships weakened when moral awareness was higher. The relationship between individual and group perceptions of ethical leadership and courtesy was positive when empathic concern was high, whereas this relationship weakened when empathic concern was lower. Thus, although ethical leadership relates positively to follower helping and courtesy, the strength of this relationship differs depending on the level of empathic concern and moral awareness in the work group.

Someone to Look Up To

Despite a business environment that highlights the importance of executives’ ethical leadership, the individual antecedents of ethical leadership remain largely unknown. In this study, the authors propose that follower perceptions of ethical leadership depend on the executive leader’s cognitive moral development (CMD) and, more importantly, on the relationship between executive leader and follower CMD. In a sample of 143 leader–follower dyads, the authors find a direct positive relationship between leader CMD and perceptions of ethical leadership. Using polynomial regression, they find that ethical leadership is maximized when the leader’s CMD diverges from and is greater than the follower’s CMD. The authors explain these findings using a social learning theory framework. Leaders who are more advanced ethical reasoners relative to their followers are likely to stand out as salient ethical role models whose ethics-related communication and behavior attract followers’ attention. The authors discuss the research and practical implications of these findings.

The Sound of Silence – A Space for Morality? The Role of Solitude for Ethical Decision Making

Building on research and measures on solitude, ethical leadership theories, and decision making literatures, we propose a conceptual model to better understand processes enabling ethical leadership neglected in the literature. The role of solitude as antecedent is explored in this model, whereby its selective utilization focuses inner directionality toward growing authentic executive awareness as a moral person and a moral manager and allows an integration between inner and outer directionality toward ethical leadership and resulting decision-making processes that will have an impact on others’ perceptions of leader authentic ethical leadership. Thus it is proposed that utilization of solitude positively predicts executive-level authentic ethical leadership action and in turn, ethical decision making perceived fairness and integrity. We also propose two moderators, strengthening the hypothesized (positive) association between solitude and ethical leadership; these are the executive’s ability for moral reasoning and a motivation for socialized (as opposed to personalized) power.

Is ethical leadership and strategic leadership a dilemma? A descriptive survey

The necessity with regard to carrying out all organizational activities within the framework of the code of ethics brings the ethical leadership fact into question. When the influence of the organizational leader upon the company image, identity and prestige is taken into account, it becomes crucial to develop competitive strategies within the framework of the codes of ethics. However here the questions like “to adapt strategic leadership which should relatively have the upper hand on the competitors by determining competition strategy with the ethical leadership principles?, Is there a dilemma?, Or they are the processes that complement each other? become crucial. In other words, could the ethical leadership and the strategic leadership be considered together? Could the ethical leaders be the strategic leader having a high competition responsibility as well. Whether ethical leadership and a strategic leadership having a high competition responsibility under an intense competition environment with the ethical dimension of the leadership could be considered all together, their differentiation and integration points constitute the primary objective of this research.In this research while ethical dimension of strategy development and ethical organizational climate, ethical business transaction and the issue of constituting working order are considered in the context of the ethical leadership, on the hand, it is intended to determined the difference between the strategic leadership perceptions that act from the organization's concern of profitability and being long-termed and position identification in all cases with regard to its competitors. According to the results of the analysis carried out, it is understood that there is a difference between the ethical leadership perceptions of the sample and the averages of the strategic leadership perception. It is also determined by the results of the correlation analysis carried out that there is a negative relation between the ethical leadership perceptions and the strategic leadership perceptions.

Rebounding from Corruption: Perceptions of Ethics Program Effectiveness in a Public Sector Organization

We examine the perceived importance of three organizational preconditions (awareness of formal ethics codes, decision-making techniques, and availability of resources) theorized to be critical for ethics program effectiveness. In addition, we examine the importance of ethical leadership and congruence between formal ethics codes and informal ethical norms in influencing employee perceptions. Participants (n=418) from a large southern California government agency completed a survey on the perceived effectiveness of the organization’s ethics program. Results suggest that employee perceptions of organizational preconditions, ethical leadership and informal ethical norms were related to perceptions of ethics program effectiveness. Based on these findings, organizations should evaluate the presence (or absence) of essential preconditions and take steps to ensure that leaders model espoused organizational values to foster perceptions of effective ethics programs.