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Publication
Context matters less than leadership in preventing unethical behavior
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Abstract(s)
Ever since corporate scandals became a concern of public interest, leaders have been a
common target for attributing responsibilities and ethical leadership has been suggested as a
solution to prevent it. However, organizations, especially MNCs, are permeable to their social
environment, and therefore, a contextual approach is called for. This study is set to empirically test
a sequential mediation model bridging ethical leadership to employees’ unethical behavior via
instrumental ethical climate and employee displacement of responsibility embedded in its society’s
ethical standards represented by the country’s corruption index that acts as a moderator. A total of
184 participants comprised in 39 teams across 13 countries, answered a dyadic two-waved survey.
Findings show that ethical leadership has an indirect influence on unethical behavior avoidance by
diminishing the instrumental ethical climate and frustrating the displacement of responsibility of
individuals. In addition, results suggest this process is not sensible to the corruption levels of
countries. Such findings suggest organizations are less prone to adjust their ethical standards to
the environment than usually expected. The unavoidable conclusion is that in MNCs, ethical
leaders may suffice to counter any corruption-like pressure from the social environment but
likewise, may be what it takes to foster a corrupted organization in a society that values ethical
principles in business.
Description
Keywords
Ethical leadership Ethical climate Displacement of responsibility Unethical behavior Corruption
Citation
Antunez, M., Marques, T. & Ramalho, N., Context matters less than leadership in preventing unethical behavior, EURAM European Academy of Management 2021, 16-18 June 2021.