Title

The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes

Authors

Authors

M. Schminke; M. L. Ambrose;D. O. Neubaum

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

Keywords

leaders; ethics; ethical climate; attitudes; moral development; PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT; DECISION-MAKING; BUSINESS ETHICS; JUDGMENT; DEVELOPMENT; JOB-SATISFACTION; VALUE CONGRUENCE; WORK CLIMATE; BEHAVIOR; MANAGERS; CULTURE; Psychology, Applied; Management; Psychology, Social

Abstract

This study examines the effect of leader moral development on the organization's ethical climate and employee attitudes. Results indicate that the relationship between leader moral development and ethical climate is moderated by two factors: the extent to which the leader utilizes his or her cognitive moral development (i.e., capacity for ethical reasoning), and the age of the organization. Specifically, the influence of the leader's moral development was stronger for high utilizing leaders, those whose moral actions were consistent with their moral reasoning. Additionally, the influence of the leader's moral development was stronger in younger organizations. Finally, as predicted, congruence between the leader's moral development and the employee's moral development was positively associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively associated with turnover intentions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Volume

97

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2005

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

135

Last Page

151

WOS Identifier

WOS:000229809800004

ISSN

0749-5978

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