Ethical managers in ethical organisations? The leadership‐culture connection among Finnish managers

Abstract

Purpose

The main aim of the present study is to discover whether the managers’ self‐evaluations of their ethical leadership style are associated with their assessments of the ethical organisational culture (measured with an eight‐dimensional Corporate Ethical Virtues‐model). It aims to hypothesise that the more ethical the managers evaluate their own leadership style to be, the higher evaluations they give on the ethical culture of their organisation. The underlying assumption is that ethical managers can enhance the ethical culture by behaving in accordance with their own values.

Design/methodology/approach

This quantitative research was based on a questionnaire study with 902 respondents throughout Finland. A linear regression analysis was conducted to examine how ethical leadership was related to ethical organisational culture.

Findings

Managers who appraised their own leadership style as ethical also evaluated the ethical culture of their organisations more positively. The result implies that an ethically behaving leader can develop the culture of his/her organisation towards more ethical practices. The results also showed that differences in evaluating both ethical leadership and culture emerged concerning background variables.

Research limitations/implications

The data collected were based only on self‐assessments from one data source, and therefore future studies, e.g. including employee ratings, are needed.

Practical implications

Promoting ethical virtues in organisations can lead to a virtuous circle, which supports both ethical culture and ethical leadership.

Originality/value

This empirical study contributes to the research on ethical leadership by examining it in relation to ethical organisational culture.

Citation

Huhtala, M., Kangas, M., Lämsä, A. and Feldt, T. (2013), "Ethical managers in ethical organisations? The leadership‐culture connection among Finnish managers", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 250-270. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731311326684