Becoming morally disengaged: how long does it take?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Almeida ◽  
Francisca Abreu ◽  
Nelson C. Ramalho

PurposeLeadership is a time-dependent process and a recent leadership research trend posits a central role of time-based variables. The dyadic tenure plays a keystone role in understanding leader–follower dynamics, especially as regards leader ethics. In line with this, from a social learning theory perspective, the authors propose a model that explains how and when ethical leaders' behaviors influence subordinates' moral disengagement.Design/methodology/approachWith a sample of 220 employees, the present study tests the conditional indirect effect of ethical leadership on followers' moral disengagement via instrumental ethical climate (IEC), using dyadic tenure as the moderator variable. The analyses were conducted with Hayes PROCESS macro.FindingsResults suggested that IEC fully mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and moral disengagement. Thus, when followers perceive low levels of ethical leadership, they notice higher levels of IEC, which is positively related to moral disengagement. However, IEC perception only influences moral disengagement when dyadic tenure approaches the third year.Originality/valueThis paper answers calls to include time-based variables in leadership studies. Hence, using dyadic tenure, this study gives support to previous propositions that were still awaiting empirical test.

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqiang Gao ◽  
Wei He

Purpose An increasing number of studies have demonstrated a positive effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), but little attention has been paid to the mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying this effect. The purpose of this paper is to propose a trickle-down model and examine the mediating role of supervisor ethical leadership and the moderating role of perceived organizational distributive justice in the CSR-OCB relationship. Design/methodology/approach To test the arguments, the authors collected field data in four companies located in a central city of China. Through a multi-wave data collection design, a total of 187 employees reported their perceptions toward firms’ CSR and organizational justice at Time 1, and reported their direct supervisors’ ethical leadership behaviors, and their own OCBs at Time 2 (four weeks later). Findings Empirical findings demonstrated that CSR had a positive effect on employee OCB, as mediated by supervisors’ ethical leadership. In addition, this mediation effect was found to be moderated by perceived organizational distributive justice such that the mediation relationship was stronger when perceived organizational distributive justice was lower than when it was higher. Originality/value The present study makes three major contributions. First, it contributes to the CSR literature by revealing the underlying mechanism of ethical leadership through which CSR will lead to increased employee OCB in the workplace. Second, the moderation findings of the study add a new piece of empirical evidence suggesting the boundary condition of organizational distributive justice affecting the positive effect of CSR on employee OCB. Finally, the trickle-down theoretical model demonstrates the pivotal role of leadership in transforming CSR into positive employee outcomes, providing valuable insights into future research that examines why CSR motivates in-organization employees at work.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gedif Tessema Sinshaw ◽  
Atul Shiva ◽  
Manjit Singh

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge process capability (KPC) between ethical leadership (EL) and administrative innovation (AI) in the banking sector of Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by a standardized questionnaire survey to collect the data from 266 employees of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in 93 branches. The study employed structural equation modeling approach with Analyzing Moment of Structures 23.0 to test the hypothesized mediation model.FindingsThe results of this investigation disclose that EL has a significant and direct effect on AI and KPC. KPC also influences AI significantly.Originality/valueThe study revealed that KPC plays a partial mediating role in linking EL to AI, which is a new contribution to the existing literature of EL. This dimension can provide new dimensions to design organizational leadership which is based on sustainability paradigm. This can strengthen the organizational capabilities aiming to increasing innovative behaviors in order to have a deep-seated strategy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1062-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Wuu Joe ◽  
Wei-Ting Hung ◽  
Chou-Kang Chiu ◽  
Chieh-Peng Lin ◽  
Ya-Chu Hsu

Purpose To deepen our understanding about the development of turnover intention, the purpose of this paper is to develop a model that explains how ethical climate influences turnover intention based on the ethical climate theory and social identity theory. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses of this study were statistically tested using a survey of working professionals from Taiwan’s high-tech industry. Of the 400 questionnaires distributed to the working professionals from five large high-tech firms in a well-known science park in Northern Taiwan, 352 usable questionnaires were returned for a questionnaire response rate of 88 percent. Findings The test results of this study first show that all three dimensions of ethical climate (i.e. instrumental, benevolent, and principled) are indirectly related to turnover intention via the mediation of firm attractiveness. Moreover, instrumental and benevolent climate directly relate to turnover intention, whereas benevolent climate negatively moderates the relationship between principled climate and firm attractiveness. Originality/value This study finds that benevolent climate plays a dual role as an antecedent and a moderator in the formation of turnover intention, complementing prior studies that merely concentrate on the single role of benevolent climate as either an antecedent or a moderator. The effect of principled climate on organizational identification complements the theoretical discussion by Victor and Cullen (1987) about deontology in which an ethical workplace climate (such as legitimacy) drives employees to invest in identity attachments to the organization and influences their future career decision (e.g. turnover).


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Usman Khalid ◽  
Rabia Mushtaq ◽  
Abdul Zahid Khan ◽  
Faisal Mahmood

Purpose This paper aims to evaluate how transformational leadership can increase job embeddedness in their employees that persuade them to stay in their organization and how this relationship is contingent upon the job characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Sample of 328 useable responses was available for analysis. Questionnaires were distributed to the employees who are working in different Pakistani organizations. Regression analysis was used to test for hypotheses. Findings The findings support that there is a significant impact of transformational leadership for shaping job embeddedness, and the results endorsed the role of job characteristics as a moderator in describing the relationship of transformational leadership and job embeddedness. Transformational leaders would motivate employees to work together in productive manners in challenging work settings. Originality/value This paper makes three key contributions to the literature on job design. First, this inquiry shows that a strong link does exist between transformational leadership in creating organizational job embeddedness. Second, it highlights how job characteristics of highly challenging work settings may shape employees’ job embeddedness. Third, this paper offers a novel perspective in leadership research by incorporating high challenging work setting (i.e. job characteristics) as moderator. Managers may get new insight by opting for transformational leaders' attributes and concentrating on high challenging work settings for creating embeddedness in employees to prolong their stay with the job and firm.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongrui Liu ◽  
Cong Wang ◽  
Hongjie Wang ◽  
Donghua Xu

PurposeRelying on a multilevel approach, this paper investigates the day-to-day variations in family-supportive supervisor behaviors influencing subordinates' job stress, as well as the mediating role of positive emotions and the moderating role of ethical leadership.Design/methodology/approachUsing the experience-sampling methodology, the study collected the data from 137 civil servants in China who responded to one daily survey for 10 working days.FindingsWith a total of 1,370 surveys, results supported the hypothesized model linking daily family-supportive supervisor behaviors to daily job stress via subordinates' daily positive emotions. In addition, the study found a moderating effect for ethical leadership positively in the indirect relationship between family-supportive supervisor behaviors and job stress.Practical implicationsThe findings in this study serve practitioners in organizational and leadership development. On the one hand, this study contributes to raising awareness about the importance of improving family-related support in the workplace, in generating subordinates' positive emotions and relieving their job stress. On other hand, the findings highlight the necessity of cultivating ethical leadership for leaders.Originality/valueThis study fulfills an identified need to clarify how and when daily family supportive supervisor behaviors influence subordinates' daily job stress. This study moves beyond previous research by adopting the experience sampling method and demonstrating important cross-level effects of ethical leadership on the within-individual relationship between family supportive supervisor behaviors and job stress.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moazzam Ali ◽  
Yuanmei (Elly) Qu ◽  
Shoaib Shafique ◽  
Nhat Tan Pham ◽  
Muhammad Usman

PurposeThe present study aimed to test the hypothesis that ethical leadership positively contributes to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and then examine the moderating role of work centrality in the relationships of ethical leadership with exploitative learning and explorative learning.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged survey data were collected from 257 middle managers and their 257 immediate supervisors in 76 firms in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and Hayes' PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results revealed that ethical leadership positively contributed to exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously. Importantly, the authors found that work centrality strengthened the positive relationships of ethical leadership with both exploitative learning and explorative learning.Practical implicationsThe findings can help organizations enhance exploitative learning and explorative learning simultaneously and enable them to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.Originality/valueAlthough explorative learning and exploitative learning together constitute fundamental resources for organizations' long-term success, prior research has not looked into whether and when leader behaviors facilitate explorative learning and exploitative learning simultaneously. The study contributed to fill this gap by introducing ethical leadership, signifying its positive role in enhancing both explorative learning and exploitative learning, and establishing work centrality as a moderator to reinforce these two positive relationships.


Author(s):  
Kijpokin Kasemsap

This chapter reveals the role of ethical leadership in ethical organizations, thus illustrating the theoretical and practical overviews of ethical leadership, organizational ethical culture, and organizational ethical climate; the significance of organizational ethical climate in organizational performance; and the significance of ethical leadership and organizational ethical culture in ethical organizations. The utilization of ethical leadership is crucial for ethical organizations that seek to serve suppliers and customers, increase business performance, strengthen competitiveness, and achieve continuous success in global business. Therefore, it is essential for ethical organizations to explore their ethical leadership applications, promote a strategic plan to systematically evaluate their practical advancements, and urgently respond to the ethical leadership needs of organizational members in ethical organizations. Applying ethical leadership in ethical organizations will greatly improve organizational performance and reach business goals in the social media age.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-294
Author(s):  
Ma. Regina M. Hechanova ◽  
Jason O. Manaois

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a structural model of the role of ethical leadership on intent to whistle blow workplace corruption using the theory of planned behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The study used a mixed method, sequential design. Interviews were conducted in the first phase to identify corrupt practices and validate the salience of the variables in the study. The second phase administered surveys to test the hypotheses of the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was done to analyze structural relationships among variables. Findings SEM results showed an adequately fit model, indicating ethical leadership predicting organizational norms and controls. It also found that ethical leadership has indirect effect toward employees’ attitude toward corruption through organizational norms and control. Furthermore, ethical leadership also has indirect effect on intent to whistle blow through organizational controls. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted in the Philippines, a high-power distance culture. In such a culture, the influence of leadership is crucial, as it dictates standard behaviors of members and the organization as a whole. Future research may wish to explore whether the findings would also apply in low-power distance cultures. Practical implications The finding suggests that ethical leadership is crucial in shaping organizational norms and controls, which in turn, influences employees’ attitude toward corruption and their intention to whistle blow. Originality/value The study contributes to corruption literature by providing empirical evidence of the structure model how the role of ethical leadership shapes organizational norms and controls that, in turn, influences employee attitude toward corruption and intent to whistle blow.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahri Özsungur

Purpose Ethical leadership is at the forefront of what matters in today’s business life and current issues, with a view to making strong moral decisions through bilateral communication. Service innovation behavior is important in terms of individual and institutional actions in the process of producing and implementing new ideas. Investigating the mediating role of psychological capital which consists of self-efficacy, optimism, hope and psychological endurance dimensions, between ethical leadership and service innovation behavior, is a matter to be investigated. This study aims to assess the impact of ethical leadership on service innovation behavior by means of a comprehensive literature review. In this framework, psychological capital forms the scope of researching the mediating role. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted with 376 blue-collar workers randomly selected from 140 company which were selected from 1,294 joint stock companies among 76,882 companies operating in the province of Adana in Turkey and registered in the Adana Chamber of Commerce, by applying a questionnaire of 40 items. Findings As a result of the factor analysis, 6 items which could not provide reliability were extracted from the scale and the remaining 34 items were distributed in three factors and the validity of the construct validity was measured by the convergence and divergence methods. Construct reliability (CR) values were found to be statistically significant (SRMR: 0.50, RMSEA = 0.058, IFI: 0.955, CFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.86, TLI = 0.97, χ2/s.d. = 2.264) when it was above 0.7, and the structural equation model determined that the research data and the initially determined model are compatible. Ethical leadership has a significant effect on psychological capital (ß = 0.224, p < 0.001), ethical leadership has a significant effect on innovation (ß = 0.113, p < 0.001), psychological capital was found to have a significant influence on service innovation (ß = 0.965, p < 0.001), and ethical leadership was mediated by psychological capital on service innovation behavior (SIE = 0.235). Research limitations/implications Further research is needed to assess conducting research in enterprises with different cultural characteristics. This paper provides the effectiveness of ethical leadership and psychological capital factors, which are effective in improving employee service innovation behavior and enabling managers to develop human resources strategies in this respect. Practical implications The results provide the impact of ethical leadership on the productivity of employees in the workplace and provide practical benefits in terms of developing innovation-oriented service development behaviors. Social implications The innovative behaviors of the employees enable the development of innovative ideas in social life by contributing to consumer satisfaction and economy. Ethical leadership ensures positive behaviors in the society by ensuring that employees in the workplace develop justice sentiments. Originality/value The mediating role of psychological capital between ethical leadership and service innovation behavior has not been investigated before. In this study, the effects of self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience factors were investigated in providing ethical leaders and employees, creating value in the enterprise, and in providing innovation-focused services for employees.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulu Zhou ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Zhihong Chen ◽  
Shuming Zhao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how a perceived ethical climate influences employees’ intention to whistle-blow through internal organizational channels and incorporates the mediating role of organizational identification and moral identity as well as the moderating role of individual risk aversion. Design/methodology/approach The five proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis with two waves of data collected in 2016 from 667 employees in Chinese organizations. Findings The findings indicate that perceived ethical climate had a positive effect on employees’ internal whistle-blowing intention, which was mediated by organizational identification and moral identity. Furthermore, employees’ risk aversion weakened the effect of organizational identification, while the moderating role by moral identity on internal whistle-blowing intention was not validated. Originality/value This study explains the psychological mechanism of whistle-blowing intention from the perspective of social identity, which contributes to opening the “black box” of the transmitting processes from the perceived ethical climate to whistle-blowing intention. This study also extends the literature by defining a boundary condition of risk aversion that hinders organizational identification influence on employee whistle-blowing intention.


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