Mission Research
Ethical leadership: A structured review into construct, measurement, public sector context and effects
Research Summary
Fahad Shakeel, Peter Mathieu Kruyen and Sandra Van Thiel (2020) systematically review the literature surrounding ethical leadership styles.
Details
- Authors: Fahad Shakeel, Peter Mathieu Kruyen, Sandra Van Thiel
- Article Name: Ethical leadership: A structured review into construct, measurement, public sector context and effects
- Journal: International Journal of Public Leadership
- Date: 28 January 2020
- Issue: 16 (1)
- Page Numbers: 88–108
- URL/DOI: DOI: 10.1108/ijpl-09–2019–0060
- Accessed: 2 April 2022
Summary
Research into ethical leadership is gaining pace after emerging in academia only about a decade ago (p. 88). This paper is a systematic literature review of research into the subject.
Some scholars have commented on links between ethical leadership and other leadership styles (p. 91), but these may be simply types of ethical leadership (p. 92). There are no agreed scales of ethical leadership, making it hard to measure and compare findings (p. 93). There is also a lack of research in the public sector but it is growing (pp. 93–94).
There are both positive impacts (pp. 94–95) and negative impacts of ethical leadership (pp. 95–96). Different levels of ethical leadership had different impacts. For example, moderate ethical leadership increased the prevalence of unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB) of followers, whereas high ethical leadership decreased it (p. 96). Moderate ethical leadership increased organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), whereas high ethical leadership decreased it (p. 96).
Key Terms
- unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB): behaviours that benefit an organisation but are unethical
- organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB): positive and constructive behaviours within an organisation that go beyond an employee’s job description
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Good: The systematic structure makes it quite readable. The helpful overview of key findings, especially in the appendix.
- Bad: The critiques of the studies are very minimal and broad. For example, it accepts Brown et. al.’s definition with very little criticism of consideration. It also uses concepts such as leadership and management interchangeably.
- Ugly: Uses acronyms that those new to the subject will not be familiar with.
Questions
- How valid and generalisable are the findings of the studies cited in this review?
Links to Other Research
It agrees with many of the assertions of Mitchell et al., such as the need for more qualitative research and the broad definitions of ethics in organisational practice.
Helena Lui is very critical of these models of leadership theory.
Justin Marsh is a missionary who has served in Asia for over six years. He is the country leader of a team of missionaries and has just completed an MA that looks at missional practice. Whilst his team works within a range of contexts across the country, Justin’s focus is the Muslim minority groups. He is the owner of the publication THE CO-MISSION.
