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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Other Titles The Benefits of Ethical Behaviors of Leaders
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Carmen Tanner
  • Alexander Brugger
  • Susan van Schie
  • Carmen Lebherz
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Zeitschrift für Psychologie
Publisher Hogrefe & Huber
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0044-3409
Volume 218
Number 4
Page Range 225 - 233
Date 2010
Abstract Text Ethical scandals in business have led to calls for more ethical or moral leadership. Yet, we still know very little about what characterizes ethical leadership and what its positive consequences actually are. We argue that the major question is not about what leaders value, but rather whether their ethical values are regularly reflected in behavioral patterns across situations and situational challenges. To address this, we have begun to build the Ethical Leadership Behavior Scale, which is based on behaviors reflecting concrete manifestations of ethical values (e.g., fairness, respect) across occasions and situational barriers. A study with 592 employees of 110 work units in two departments provided a first test of this scale and demonstrated that the level of ethical leadership behavior predicts important work-related attitudes (job satisfaction, work engagement, affective organizational commitment) and outcomes (health complaints, emotional exhaustion, absenteeism).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1027/0044-3409/a000032
Other Identification Number merlin-id:5057
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