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On Ethically Solvent Leaders: The Roles of Pride and Moral Identity in Predicting Leader Ethical Behavior

Sanders, S.; Wisse, B.; Yperen, N.W.V.; Rus, D.

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Authors

S. Sanders

B. Wisse

N.W.V. Yperen

D. Rus



Abstract

The popular media has repeatedly pointed to pride as one of the key factors motivating leaders to behave unethically. However, given the devastating consequences that leader unethical behavior may have, a more scientific account of the role of pride is warranted. The present study differentiates between authentic and hubristic pride and assesses its impact on leader ethical behavior, while taking into consideration the extent to which leaders find it important to their self-concept to be a moral person. In two experiments we found that with higher levels of moral identity, authentically proud leaders are more likely to engage in ethical behavior than hubristically proud leaders, and that this effect is mediated by leaders’ motivation to act selflessly. A field survey among organizational leaders corroborated that moral identity may bring the positive effect of authentic pride and the negative effect of hubristic pride on leader ethical behavior to the forefront.

Citation

Sanders, S., Wisse, B., Yperen, N., & Rus, D. (2018). On Ethically Solvent Leaders: The Roles of Pride and Moral Identity in Predicting Leader Ethical Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 631-645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3180-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 12, 2016
Online Publication Date May 3, 2016
Publication Date Jul 1, 2018
Deposit Date Apr 13, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Business Ethics
Print ISSN 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN 1573-0697
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 150
Issue 3
Pages 631-645
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3180-0
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1386841

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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://​creativecommons.​org/​licenses/​by/​4.​0/​), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.






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