IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/ibrjnl/v9y2016i7p55-63.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Individual Character: Towards Empirical Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Weragoda, R. B. L
  • Opatha, H. H. D. N. P

Abstract

The study of individual character is an essential area for organizational research as it is instrumental in ensuring ethical behavior at individual and organization level. However it is observed in the literature that this area has been largely untapped and especially moral and social dimensions of character have been ignored in contemporary studies. Further, it is observed that character and related terms, i.e. virtues, morality, ethos and values have been widely used interchangeably due to conceptual ambiguity (the ontological basis) and certain instruments used for empirical investigations potentially suffer due to methodological ambiguity (the epistemological basis) of the construct. In this paper, we have formulated a conceptually sound definition which provides a clear direction for future empirical investigations and facilitates to differentiate individual character from other related terms. Finally, we propose certain missing and new dimensions of individual character and recommend promising research directions in order to further expand content validity of the construct.

Suggested Citation

  • Weragoda, R. B. L & Opatha, H. H. D. N. P, 2016. "Individual Character: Towards Empirical Investigation," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(7), pages 55-63, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ibrjnl:v:9:y:2016:i:7:p:55-63
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ibr/article/view/59763/32534
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ibr/article/view/59763
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell Neubert & Dawn Carlson & K. Kacmar & James Roberts & Lawrence Chonko, 2009. "The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 157-170, December.
    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. Takuma Kimura & Mizuki Nishikawa, 2018. "Ethical Leadership and Its Cultural and Institutional Context: An Empirical Study in Japan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 707-724, September.
    2. Omar S. Itani & Fernando Jaramillo & Larry Chonko, 2019. "Achieving Top Performance While Building Collegiality in Sales: It All Starts with Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 417-438, May.
    3. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Tran Quang Bao Phuc & Khalida Parveen & Duyen Thi Truc Tran & Dao Thi Anh Nguyen, 2021. "The linkage between ethical leadership and lecturer job satisfaction at a private higher education institution in Vietnam," Journal of Social Sciences Advancement, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 39-50.
    6. Laura Neumeyer & Anna Gründler & Anna-Luisa Stöber, 2023. "Don’t Worry, Be Happy—Does the CEO’s Personality Mitigate the Negative Effect of Financial Constraints on Employee Satisfaction?," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 75(1), pages 71-98, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Robert Cialdini & Yexin Jessica Li & Adriana Samper & Ned Wellman, 2021. "How Bad Apples Promote Bad Barrels: Unethical Leader Behavior and the Selective Attrition Effect," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 861-880, February.
    9. Mitchell J. Neubert & Emily M. Hunter & Remy C. Tolentino, 2022. "Modeling Character: Servant Leaders, Incivility and Patient Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 261-278, June.
    10. Ali Ünal & Danielle Warren & Chao Chen, 2012. "The Normative Foundations of Unethical Supervision in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 5-19, April.
    11. Shenjiang Mo & Junqi Shi, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Burnout, Workplace Deviance and Performance: Testing the Mediating Roles of Trust in Leader and Surface Acting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 293-303, August.
    12. Kiho Jun & Joonghak Lee & Jegoo Lee, 2024. "Unraveling the dynamics of employee retention in Asian organizations: exploring the interplay of organizational identification, affective commitment, and trust in leadership," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 484-510, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Lora Reed & Deborah Vidaver-Cohen & Scott Colwell, 2011. "A New Scale to Measure Executive Servant Leadership: Development, Analysis, and Implications for Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 415-434, July.
    15. Ismie Roha Mohamed Jais & Nordin Yahaya & Centre of Leadership Profiling, Akademi Kepimpinan Pendidikan Tinggi, Malaysia. & Erlane K Ghani, 2021. "Talent Management in Higher Education Institutions: Developing Leadership Competencies," Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 8(1), pages 8-15.
    16. Colina Frisch & Markus Huppenbauer, 2014. "New Insights into Ethical Leadership: A Qualitative Investigation of the Experiences of Executive Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 23-43, August.
    17. Raiswa Saha & Shashi & Roberto Cerchione & Rajwinder Singh & Richa Dahiya, 2020. "Effect of ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility on firm performance: A systematic review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 409-429, March.
    18. Sam Solaimani, 2024. "From Compliance to Capability: On the Role of Data and Technology in Environment, Social, and Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Rita Paralta & Eduardo Simões & Ana Patrícia Duarte, 2023. "Subjective Well-Being in Organizations: Effects of Internal Ethical Context and Ethical Leadership," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, March.
    20. Zawadzki Michał, 2018. "Dignity in the Workplace. The Perspective of Humanistic Management," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(1), pages 171-188, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    character; character strength; ethos; morality; virtues;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ibn:ibrjnl:v:9:y:2016:i:7:p:55-63. 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: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.