EMBEDDING ETHICAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN AND ACROSS ORGANIZATION LEVELS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Schaubroeck, John M.; Hannah, Sean T.; Avolio, Bruce J.; Kozlowski, Steve W. J.; Lord, Robert G.; Trevino, Linda K.; Dimotakis, Nikolaos; Peng, Ann C.
• 署名单位: Michigan State University; Wake Forest University; University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle; University System of Ohio; University of Akron; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; University System of Georgia; Georgia State University
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0064
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 1053-1078
• 关键词: TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP; decision-making; climate; performance; agreement; BEHAVIOR; culture

摘要

We develop and test a model linking ethical leadership with unit ethical culture, both across and within organizational levels, examining how both leadership and culture relate to ethical cognitions and behaviors of lower-level followers. The data were collected from 2,572 U.S. Army soldiers representing three organizational levels deployed in combat. Findings provide limited support for simple trickle-down mechanisms of ethical leadership but broader support for a multilevel model that takes into account how leaders embed shared understandings through their influence on the ethical culture of units at various levels, which in turn influence followers' ethical cognitions and behavior. The influences of ethical leadership occur not only directly, among immediate followers within a unit, but also indirectly, across hierarchical levels, through the cascading of ethical culture and senior leaders' influences on subordinate leader behavior. We discuss scholarly and practical implications for understanding how leaders transmit ethical influence both down and across large organizations.