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When Do Ethical Leaders Become Less Effective? The Moderating Role of Perceived Leader Ethical Conviction on Employee Discretionary Reactions to Ethical Leadership

Author

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  • Mayowa T. Babalola

    (Australian Catholic University)

  • Jeroen Stouten

    (University of Leuven)

  • Jeroen Camps

    (Thomas More)

  • Martin Euwema

    (University of Leuven)

Abstract

Drawing from the group engagement model and the moral conviction literature, we propose that perceived leader ethical conviction moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee OCB as well as deviance. In a field study of employees from various industries and a scenario-based experiment, we revealed that both the positive relation between ethical leadership and employee OCB and the negative relation between ethical leadership and employee deviance are more pronounced when leaders are perceived to have weak rather than strong ethical convictions. Further, we argued and showed that employees’ feelings of personal control and perceived voice opportunity mediated the interactive effect of ethical leadership and perceived leader ethical conviction on OCB and deviance. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayowa T. Babalola & Jeroen Stouten & Jeroen Camps & Martin Euwema, 2019. "When Do Ethical Leaders Become Less Effective? The Moderating Role of Perceived Leader Ethical Conviction on Employee Discretionary Reactions to Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 85-102, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:154:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3472-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3472-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Ye Li & Yajun Zhang & Lu Lu & Junwei Zhang & Xiuli Sun, 2023. "Laughters Nurturing Tears for Leaders and Organizations: The Implications of Leader Humor for Leader Workplace Deviance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 603-621, December.
    3. Francis Donbesuur & Nadia Zahoor & Samuel Adomako, 2021. "Postformation alliance capabilities and environmental innovation: The roles of environmental in‐learning and relation‐specific investments," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3330-3343, November.
    4. Al Halbusi, Hussam & Ruiz-Palomino, Pablo & Williams, Kent A., 2023. "Ethical leadership, subordinates’ moral identity and self-control: Two- and three-way interaction effect on subordinates’ ethical behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Craig Crossley & Shannon G. Taylor & Robert C. Liden & David Wo & Ronald F. Piccolo, 2024. "Right From the Start: The Association Between Ethical Leadership, Trust Primacy, and Customer Loyalty," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(2), pages 409-426, August.
    6. Lianying Zhang & Xiaocan Li & Ziqing Liu, 2022. "Fostering Constructive Deviance by Leader Moral Humility: The Mediating Role of Employee Moral Identity and Moderating Role of Normative Conflict," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 731-746, October.
    7. Ahmad A. Toumeh & Maha D. Ayoush, 2024. "Does Ethical Leadership Constraint Earnings Management Practices? A Systematic Literature Review and Content Analysis," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 4, pages 130-143.
    8. Juliana Toro-Arias & Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & María Pilar Rodríguez-Córdoba, 2022. "Measuring Ethical Organizational Culture: Validation of the Spanish Version of the Shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 551-574, March.
    9. Jianji Zeng & Guangyi Xu, 2019. "Ethical Leadership and Young University Teachers’ Work Engagement: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Klopotan Igor & Aleksić Ana & Vinković Nikolina, 2020. "Do Business Ethics and Ethical Decision Making Still Matter: Perspective of Different Generational Cohorts," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 31-43, March.
    11. Ifedapo Adeleye & John Luiz & Judy Muthuri & Kenneth Amaeshi, 2020. "Business Ethics in Africa: The Role of Institutional Context, Social Relevance, and Development Challenges," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 717-729, February.
    12. Muhammad Arshad & Ghulam Abid & Francoise Venezia Contreras Torres, 2021. "Impact of prosocial motivation on organizational citizenship behavior: the mediating role of ethical leadership and leader–member exchange," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 133-150, February.

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