Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
with accepted standards (moral person) and promote moral conduct in others (moral
manager). This definition of ethical leadership is sensitive to differing norms in different
cultures and industries. That is, ethical leadership may look slightly different in the
United States as compared to the display of ethical leadership in another country. Thus,
while the moral norms an ethical leader is expected to demonstrate and promote are
determined in part by the context they are leading in, ethical leadership always involves
being both a moral person and a moral manager regardless of the context.
Moral Person
Being a moral person involves acting with integrity and being perceived as a trustworthy
person. Ethical leaders exhibit traits such as integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness.
Specifically, ethical leaders:
Ensure that moral behavior in their private life is consistent with the moral
standards they publically espouse.
Do the right thing and act morally in their actions.
Take responsibility for their actions.
Show concern for others.
Treat others fairly.
Use values to guide their behavior and decisions.
Implement decisions that are objective and fair.
Make decisions based on sound ethical principles.
Moral Manager
Ethical leadership involves not only being a moral person, but being a moral manager as
well. Being a moral manager involves proactively promoting ethical behavior in others
through the use role modeling, communication, and the use of formal rewards systems.
Ethical leaders recognize that subordinates are searching for ethical guidance and that
they can influence the ethical behavior of others in a positive way. Specifically, ethical
leaders:
Set clear ethical standards and enforce those standards through the use of
organizational rewards and punishments.
Taken together, this research suggests that ethical leadership is important for achieving
improved ethical behavior and other critical outcomes in organizations. Achieving ethical
behavior is not just a matter of weeding out a few bad apples, but instead involves
helping others achieve high ethical standards which can be accomplished through the
demonstration of ethical leadership.
References
Avey, J. B., Palanski, M. E., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2011). When leadership goes
unnoticed: The moderating role of follower self-esteem on the relationship between
ethical leadership and follower behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 98, 573-582.
Brown, M. E., & Trevio, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future
directions. Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
Brown, M. E., Trevio, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social
learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117-134.
De Hoogh, A. H. B., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2008). Ethical and despotic leadership,
relationships with leader's social responsibility, top management team effectiveness and
subordinates' optimism: A multi-method study. Leadership Quarterly, 19, 297-311.
Kacmar, K. M., Bachrach, D. G., Harris, K. J., & Zivnuska, S. (2011). Fostering good
citizenship through ethical leadership: Exploring the moderating role of gender and
organizational politics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 633-642.
Kalshoven, K., Den Hartog, D. N., & De Hoogh, A. H. B. (2011). Ethical leadership at
work questionnaire (ELW): Development and validation of a multidimensional measure.
The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1), 51-69.
Kaptein, M. (2003). The diamond of managerial integrity. European Management
Journal, 21(1), 99-108.
Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R., Bardes, M., & Salvador, R. (2009). How low
does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model. Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 108(1), 1-13.
Neubert, M. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Roberts, J. A., & Chonko, L. B. (2009).
The virtuous influence of ethical leadership behavior: Evidence from the field. Journal of
Business Ethics, 90, 157-170.
Piccolo, R. F., Greenbaum, R., den Hartog, D. N., & Folger, R. (2010). The relationship
between ethical leadership and core job characteristics. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 31(2-3), 259-278.
Rubin, R. S., Dierdorff, E. C., & Brown, M. E. (2010). Do ethical leaders get ahead?
Exploring ethical leadership and promotability. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(2), 215236.
Trevio, L. K., & Brown, M. E. (2004). Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business
ethics myths. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2), 69-81.