TY - JOUR
T1 - On Ethically Solvent Leaders
T2 - The Role of Pride and Moral Identity in Predicting Ethical Leadership
AU - Sanders, Stacey
AU - Rus, Diana
AU - Yperen, Nico W. Van
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - Given the at times blatant lack of ethical conduct on the part of leaders, and the devastating consequences that this behavior may have, an increased understanding of the factors that feed into ethical leader behavior seems crucial. Both pride and the lack of moral identity have been put forward as lying at the root of leader ethical derailment and misconduct. The present study investigated their combined effects and found that pride interacts with moral identity in predicting ethical leader behavior. Specifically, in two experiments we found that with higher levels of moral identity authentically proud leaders are more likely to engage in ethical behavior than hubristically proud leaders, and that this effect is mediated by leaders’ motivation to act selflessly. A field survey among organizational leaders corroborated that authentic (hubristic) pride is positively (negatively) related to ethical leadership. The present research suggests that to shed light on the paths to ethical leader behavior we need to take into account emotive determinants and their interplay with moral identity.
AB - Given the at times blatant lack of ethical conduct on the part of leaders, and the devastating consequences that this behavior may have, an increased understanding of the factors that feed into ethical leader behavior seems crucial. Both pride and the lack of moral identity have been put forward as lying at the root of leader ethical derailment and misconduct. The present study investigated their combined effects and found that pride interacts with moral identity in predicting ethical leader behavior. Specifically, in two experiments we found that with higher levels of moral identity authentically proud leaders are more likely to engage in ethical behavior than hubristically proud leaders, and that this effect is mediated by leaders’ motivation to act selflessly. A field survey among organizational leaders corroborated that authentic (hubristic) pride is positively (negatively) related to ethical leadership. The present research suggests that to shed light on the paths to ethical leader behavior we need to take into account emotive determinants and their interplay with moral identity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85026268586&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.5465/ambpp.2012.68
DO - 10.5465/ambpp.2012.68
M3 - Article
SN - 0065-0668
VL - 2012
JO - Academy of Management Proceedings
JF - Academy of Management Proceedings
IS - 1
ER -