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Leader Goal Orientation and Ethical Leadership: A Socio-Cognitive Approach of the Impact of Leader Goal-Oriented Behavior on Employee Unethical Behavior

Author

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  • Dennis J. Marquardt

    (Abilene Christian University)

  • Wendy J. Casper

    (The University of Texas At Arlington)

  • Maribeth Kuenzi

    (Southern Methodist University)

Abstract

Ethical leadership is an important construct in the literature on behavioral ethics in organizations, given its link with employee attitudes and behaviors. What remains unclear, however, is what leader characteristics are associated directly with ethical leader perceptions and indirectly with employee unethical behavior. In this paper, we use a socio-cognitive lens to integrate goal orientation theory with the literature on ethical behavior in organizations. Specifically, we propose that certain patterns of managers’ goal-oriented behavior provide signals and cues to employees about their managers’ ethical leadership, which then relates to employee displays of more unethical behavior. Using a sample of 265 manager–employee dyads, our findings largely support our claims. We found that leader performance-avoid goal orientation was negatively related to perceptions of ethical leadership and positively related to employee unethical behavior. Moderated mediation tests indicated that the positive indirect effect of leader performance-avoid goal orientation on employee unethical behavior through perceptions of ethical leadership was attenuated by higher levels of leader learning goal orientation. Taken together, these findings suggest that when leaders emphasize avoiding failure while downplaying the importance of personal learning and development, employees perceive them as less ethical and are more willing to engage in ethical misconduct. We discuss implications of our findings for both theory and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis J. Marquardt & Wendy J. Casper & Maribeth Kuenzi, 2021. "Leader Goal Orientation and Ethical Leadership: A Socio-Cognitive Approach of the Impact of Leader Goal-Oriented Behavior on Employee Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 545-561, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:172:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04524-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04524-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Hannah Kremer & Isabel Villamor & Margaret Ormiston, 2024. "The Ripple Effect: When Leader Self-Group Distancing Responses Affect Subordinate Career Trajectories," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(4), pages 813-829, December.
    5. Xiaoli Guo & Weili Xia & Taiwen Feng & Jianyu Tan & Fenggang Xian, 2024. "Blockchain technology adoption and sustainable supply chain finance: The perspective of information processing theory," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3614-3632, July.
    6. Ching-Yeh Tsai & Der-Chiang Li, 2024. "Enterprise Implementation of Educational Technology: Exploring Employee Learning Behavior in E-Learning Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-21, February.
    7. Shi, Yujie & Mao, Jih-Yu & Guo, Li & Mu, Xinyan & Liu, Wenxing & He, Weiqun, 2024. "License for Wrongdoing: Why better relationships with leaders lead to employee unethical behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).

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