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Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Robert S. Rubin ,
Erich C. Dierdorff  and
Michael E. Brown
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Abstract:

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Despite sustained attention to ethical leadership in organizations, scholarship remains largely descriptive. This study employs an empirical approach to examine the consequences of ethical leadership on leader promotability. From a sample of ninety-six managers from two independent organizations, we found that ethical leaders were increasingly likely to be rated by their superior as exhibiting potential to reach senior leadership positions. However, leaders who displayed increased ethical leadership were no more likely to be viewed as promotable in the near-term compared to those who displayed less ethical leadership. Our findings also show ethical culture and pressure to achieve results are important contextual factors that moderate the relationships between ethical leadership and leader promotability to senior leadership roles.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 215 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2010

References

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