Huayao Zhang, Junjie Wu, Jing Wen and David Douglas
Determining the role of ethical leadership in the multinational companies’ (MNCs) control practices, the purpose of this paper is to extend Eisenbeiss’ (2012) four central ethical…
Abstract
Purpose
Determining the role of ethical leadership in the multinational companies’ (MNCs) control practices, the purpose of this paper is to extend Eisenbeiss’ (2012) four central ethical leadership orientations into multinational companies’ control contexts – the culturally diversified environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a multiple-case research design, the authors gather qualitative data from four MNC subsidiaries located in China, that connects three potentially diverse cultural contexts: German, Japanese and Chinese.
Findings
The findings of this paper confirm that ethical leadership compliance (or violation) positively (or negatively) contributes to the internalization of organizational practice transfer, moderated by cultural distance between foreign managers and subsidiaries’ employees. The results reveal that informal control and trust act as lubricants in the internalization process.
Originality/value
This paper evidences the connections between ethical leadership, organizational practice transfer and subsequent performance, along with inclusive cultural moderating factors.
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Nicola Pless, Filomena Sabatella and Thomas Maak
Recent years have brought significant advances in research on behavioral ethics. However, research on ethical decision making is still in a nascent stage. Our objective in this…
Abstract
Recent years have brought significant advances in research on behavioral ethics. However, research on ethical decision making is still in a nascent stage. Our objective in this paper is twofold: First, we argue that the practice of mindfulness may have significant positive effects on ethical decision making in organizations. More specifically, we will discuss the benefits of “reperceiving” – a meta-mechanism in the practice of mindfulness for ethical decision making and we provide an overview of mindfulness research pertaining to ethical decision making. Subsequently, we explore areas in which neuroscience research may inform research on ethics in organizations. We conclude that both neuroscience and mindfulness offer considerable promise to the field of ethical decision making.
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Nichanal Lamsam and Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol
The purpose of this study is to adopt the upper echelon theory to analyze the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) transformational leadership on organizational ethical culture…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to adopt the upper echelon theory to analyze the effect of chief executive officer (CEO) transformational leadership on organizational ethical culture and its subsequent impact on firm performance. The study also integrates the knowledge from the structure–conduct–performance paradigm to test whether the high degree of competitive intensity that firms experience could weaken the effect of organizational ethical culture on firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Online survey data were obtained from firms in Thailand that were randomly selected from the directory provided by the Department of Business Development (n = 200). Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.
Findings
Organizational ethical culture significantly meditates the effect of CEO transformational leadership on firm performance. Moreover, the moderating effect analysis illustrates that the positive effect of organizational ethical culture on firm performance tends to be lower when firms have a high level of competitive intensity in the market.
Originality/value
Overall, this study adds new knowledge to the literature by showing that, although ethical culture created by transformational leaders can lead to high firm performance, the market environment in terms of competitive intensity could mitigate this benefit.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of ethical leadership on employee task performance, specifically the mechanisms through which ethical leadership impacts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of ethical leadership on employee task performance, specifically the mechanisms through which ethical leadership impacts employee task performance and the moderating role of employee proactive personality. Social identity, social learning, and self-concordance theory were used to explain the way ethical leadership affects employee task performance, and provided another way to understand this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected survey-based dyadic data from middle management team members and subordinates in Chinese companies. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The empirical findings indicate that ethical leadership positively influences employee task performance. Organizational identification (OID) mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee task performance. Furthermore, the relationship between ethical leadership and employee task performance via OID is moderated by employee proactive personality.
Originality/value
Employee task performance is critical for a firm’s competitive advantage. This paper adds to knowledge about the relationship between ethical leadership and employee task performance and contributes to effective management.
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Amos S. Engelbrecht, Gardielle Heine and Bright Mahembe
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how leader integrity and ethical leadership can influence trust in the leader and employee work engagement.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how leader integrity and ethical leadership can influence trust in the leader and employee work engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using an electronic web-based questionnaire completed by 204 employees from various business organisations. Data were analysed by means of item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis conducted via structural equation modelling.
Findings
High levels of reliability were found for the measurement scales. Good model fit was demonstrated for the measurement and structural models. Empirical support was found for all the postulated relationships in the structural model.
Originality/value
This study is the first to analyse the joint relationships between leader integrity and work engagement through the mediating role of ethical leadership (i.e. moral management) and trust in the leader. The findings emphasise the key role played by ethical leaders in creating an ethical and trusting work climate conducive for employee engagement.
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Kenneth A. Merchant and Lourdes Ferreira White
This paper examines the linkages between the ethics and management control literatures and suggests some potentially fruitful areas for future research and for integration in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the linkages between the ethics and management control literatures and suggests some potentially fruitful areas for future research and for integration in the classroom.
Methodology/approach
We review topics in the ethics and management control literatures organizing them around the six modules used in the accounting ethics course taught at the University of Southern California: (a) professional standards, (b) distinguishing right from wrong, (c) understanding why (good) people do bad things, (d) getting employees to behave ethically (corporate ethics programs), (e) getting people to speak up when they see something wrong taking place (Giving Voice to Values), and (f) whistleblowing (the last resort).
Findings
While we find many topics where ethics and management control are concerned with similar issues, there are very few papers that approach these topics from the two perspectives.
Originality/value
We provide an overview of topics where ethics and management control overlap, and highlight the need for greater convergence between the two literatures. By linking MCS and ethics, organizations can provide a framework to promote behavior that both contributes to the achievement of the organization’s objectives and also follows ethical principles. We comment on what may happen when ethics and management control diverge, and discuss controls that can promote a strong ethical climate.
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Dina Al Raffie and Matthias P. Huehn
The chapter tries to highlight the critical importance of values to leadership, and argues that the research design of the ‘social scientific’ mainstream is incommensurable with…
Abstract
The chapter tries to highlight the critical importance of values to leadership, and argues that the research design of the ‘social scientific’ mainstream is incommensurable with the language of the scientific discipline that studies values: moral philosophy. The chapter shows that (a) through goals and actions, ethics is a central aspect of leadership and (b) that ethics cannot be reinterpreted as being ‘value-neutral’. Therefore, ‘effective’ leadership must always be connected to a specific value set. After arguing that leadership cannot be meaningfully looked at without reference to virtue ethics, two case studies are used to demonstrate the relationship between the two. By looking at two prominent terrorist leaders, the chapter shows how values are at the heart of their visions and actions. There are at least two practical implications: the study of leadership, and leadership education, must be reconnected with moral philosophy. The chapter connects three hitherto unconnected topics: leadership, (virtue) ethics and terrorism, presenting new insights into especially leadership.
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Francis J. Yammarino, Minyoung Cheong, Jayoung Kim and Chou-Yu Tsai
For many of the current leadership theories, models, and approaches, the answer to the question posed in the title, “Is leadership more than ‘I like my boss’?,” is “no,” as there…
Abstract
For many of the current leadership theories, models, and approaches, the answer to the question posed in the title, “Is leadership more than ‘I like my boss’?,” is “no,” as there appears to be a hierarchy of leadership concepts with Liking of the leader as the primary dimension or general factor foundation. There are then secondary dimensions or specific sub-factors of liking of Relationship Leadership and Task Leadership; and subsequently, tertiary dimensions or actual sub-sub-factors that comprise the numerous leadership views as well as their operationalizations (e.g., via surveys). There are, however, some leadership views that go beyond simply liking of the leader and liking of relationship leadership and task leadership. For these, which involve explicit levels of analysis formulations, often beyond the leader, or are multi-level in nature, the answer to the title question is “yes.” We clarify and discuss these various “no” and “yes” leadership views and implications of our work for future research and personnel and human resources management practice.
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The current study, which is based on social learning theory and social cognitive theory, intends to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity at…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study, which is based on social learning theory and social cognitive theory, intends to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity at both the individual and team levels. In particular, the authors predict a mediating mechanism at both levels: employees’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Further, the authors consider whether the climate of support for innovation is a contextual element affecting the relationship between employees’ perceptions of entrepreneurial leadership and their own entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research hypotheses were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling on 191 employees nested in 49 entrepreneurial ventures in China.
Findings
The results indicated that entrepreneurial leadership positively correlates with employee creativity at individual level. Moreover, this study found that individual followers’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy partially mediates the association between individual perceptions of entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity, whereas team members’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy fully mediates the association between team members’ perceptions of supervisors’ entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. Further, this research demonstrates the role of team-level climate of support for innovation as a boundary condition that strengthens the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on individual entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
Originality/value
Considering entrepreneurial self-efficacy to be a type of entrepreneurial context-specific self-efficacy, this study presents one of the first empirical examples of the mediating function of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the association between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity. Additionally, this research demonstrates the role of team-level climate of support for innovation as a boundary condition that strengthens the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on individual entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Further, this study provides a methodological contribution by simultaneously assessing all three variables of the mediation process at the individual and team levels: entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and employee creativity.
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Saima Ahmad, Talat Islam, Misbah Sadiq and Ahmad Kaleem
This paper aims to investigate the influence of supervisor's ethical leadership style on subordinates' green or pro-environmental work behavior in the presence of green human…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the influence of supervisor's ethical leadership style on subordinates' green or pro-environmental work behavior in the presence of green human resource management (GHRM) as a mediator and environmental knowledge as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire-based was distributed to 427 supervisor–subordinate dyads working in various Pakistani organizations. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between supervisor's ethical leadership style and subordinates' green behavior.
Findings
Structural equation modeling supported a partial mediating role of GHRM in the influence of ethical leadership on green work behavior. Further, the findings revealed that employee's environmental knowledge can magnify the indirect impact of ethical leadership, via GHRM, on green behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Cross-sectional survey data are typically associated with common method bias. To counter this bias, we collected data from dual sources, namely, supervisors and their subordinates. The research findings have implications in deepening the understanding of the impact of ethical leadership in improving environmental performance of the organization.
Originality/value
This is the first study that utilizes multi-sourced data to examine the mediating role of GHRM and the moderating role of environmental knowledge in the relationship between ethical leadership and green behavior at work.