IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ate/journl/ajbev9i3-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Virtue Ethics and Ubuntu in Leadership towards the Promotion of Ethical Organisational Operations

Author

Listed:
  • Angelo Nicolaides
  • Nkosinathi Dludla

Abstract

The objective of the conceptual literature study is to assess virtue ethics as a viable ethical leadership theory in African countries, more explicitly South Africa. We pinpoint some deficits in ethical leadership, which could be addressed through adopting a virtue ethics driven ethical organisational climate in order to positively enhance business practices and service to the community and society in general. This paper supports the notion of virtue ethics as being the suitable one for the purpose of motivating an ethical climate which leads to sustainable business. Leaders need to assume core responsibility for promoting ethics and should reinforce the notion of morally correct behaviour at all times through their demonstrable ethical conduct. This necessitates that leaders’ must exhibit virtue and possess particular qualities and know how to apply these to workplace situations. Virtue ethics as one of numerous ethical theories, certainly has a role to play in the contemporary discourse in which corruption is rife. In addition, it aligns in many ways with the notion of Ubuntu. We argue that ethical leadership behaviour based on virtue and an Ubuntu spirit, is critical in supporting an ethical climate in any organisation and it promotes sustainability. The study employed an interpretivistic expository methodology of textual analysis based on extant literature. Thus, it is to an extent hermeneutic in nature and leads to insights supporting the notion of using Virtue ethics and Ubuntu to inform practice in African organisations and society.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelo Nicolaides & Nkosinathi Dludla, 2023. "Virtue Ethics and Ubuntu in Leadership towards the Promotion of Ethical Organisational Operations," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 9(3), pages 285-302, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ate:journl:ajbev9i3-3
    DOI: 10.30958/ajbe.9-3-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.athensjournals.gr/business/2023-9-3-3-Nicolaides.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.30958/ajbe.9-3-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Mayer & Maribeth Kuenzi & Rebecca Greenbaum, 2010. "Examining the Link Between Ethical Leadership and Employee Misconduct: The Mediating Role of Ethical Climate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 7-16, September.
    2. Moore, Geoff, 2005. "Corporate Character: Modern Virtue Ethics and the Virtuous Corporation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(4), pages 659-685, October.
    3. David Lutz, 2009. "African Ubuntu Philosophy and Global Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(3), pages 313-328, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ozgur Demirtas & A. Akdogan, 2015. "The Effect of Ethical Leadership Behavior on Ethical Climate, Turnover Intention, and Affective Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 59-67, August.
    2. Christopher Chan & Subramaniam Ananthram, 2019. "Religion-Based Decision Making in Indian Multinationals: A Multi-faith Study of Ethical Virtues and Mindsets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 651-677, May.
    3. Anne Joosten & Marius van Dijke & Alain Van Hiel & David De Cremer, 2015. "Out of Control!? How Loss of Self-Control Influences Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Power and Moral Values," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Patricia Grant & Surendra Arjoon & Peter McGhee, 2018. "In Pursuit of Eudaimonia: How Virtue Ethics Captures the Self-Understandings and Roles of Corporate Directors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 389-406, December.
    5. Maria Margarida Avillez & Andrew Greenman & Susan Marlow, 2020. "Ethical Judgments About Social Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Influence of Spatio-Cultural Meanings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 877-892, February.
    6. Subrata Chakrabarty & A. Erin Bass, 2015. "Comparing Virtue, Consequentialist, and Deontological Ethics-Based Corporate Social Responsibility: Mitigating Microfinance Risk in Institutional Voids," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 487-512, February.
    7. Yidong Tu & Xinxin Lu & Yue Yu, 2017. "Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 229-245, February.
    8. Madelijne Gorsira & Linda Steg & Adriaan Denkers & Wim Huisman, 2018. "Corruption in Organizations: Ethical Climate and Individual Motives," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, February.
    9. Roberta Sferrazzo & Renato Ruffini, 2021. "Are Liberated Companies a Concrete Application of Sen’s Capability Approach?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(2), pages 329-342, May.
    10. Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. & Kaptein, S.P. & van Oosterhout, J., 2007. "Contracts to Communities: A Processual Model of Organizational Virtue," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-023-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. Geert Demuijnck & Hubert Ngnodjom, 2013. "Responsibility and Informal CSR in Formal Cameroonian SMEs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(4), pages 653-665, February.
    12. Q. Miao & A. Newman & J. Yu & L. Xu, 2013. "The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 641-653, September.
    13. Ignacio Ferrero & Reyes Calderón, 2012. "The Ethical Dimension of Industrial Production: the Role of Transitive Motivation," Faculty Working Papers 11/12, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    14. Javier Aranzadi, 2011. "The Possibilities of the Acting Person Within an Institutional Framework: Goods, Norms, and Virtues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 87-100, March.
    15. Neubert, Mitchell J. & Montañez, George D., 2020. "Virtue as a framework for the design and use of artificial intelligence," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 195-204.
    16. Massimiliano Monaci, 2020. "Embedding Humanizing Cultures in Organizations through ‘Institutional’ Leadership: the Role of HRM," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 59-83, July.
    17. Felix Martin, 2011. "Human Development and the Pursuit of the Common Good: Social Psychology or Aristotelian Virtue Ethics?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 89-98, March.
    18. Jonathan Farrar & Dawn W. Massey & Errol Osecki & Linda Thorne, 2021. "The Association Between Vertical Equity and Presidential Voting Behavior and Taxpayers’ Compliance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 101-114, August.
    19. Huaiyong Wang & Guangli Lu & Yongfang Liu, 2017. "Ethical Leadership and Loyalty to Supervisor in China: The Roles of Interactional Justice and Collectivistic Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 529-543, December.
    20. An, Young Hoon & Lew, Yong Kyu & Khan, Zaheer, 2024. "Non-market strategies in weak institutional environments: The case of MNE subsidiaries in Cameroon," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ate:journl:ajbev9i3-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Afrodete Papanikou (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.athensjournals.gr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.