Premium
Creating an ethical organizational environment: The relationship between ethical leadership, ethical organizational climate, and unethical behavior
Author(s) -
Kuenzi Maribeth,
Mayer David M.,
Greenbaum Rebecca L.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/peps.12356
Subject(s) - ethical leadership , conceptualization , psychology , moderation , social psychology , business ethics , organizational citizenship behavior , unit (ring theory) , organizational ethics , organisation climate , organizational commitment , public relations , political science , mathematics education , artificial intelligence , computer science
Abstract The purpose of this research is to provide a richer lens on the ethical organizational environment by examining the relationship between ethical leadership and unit‐level unethical behavior through ethical organizational climate (EOC), with collective moral identity as a boundary condition. In testing our theoretical model, we first develop and validate a measure of EOC to address concerns with existing measures of ethical climate. Second, we examine the role of collective moral identity as a moderator of the relationship between EOC and unit unethical behavior. We discuss implications regarding the importance of developing a more comprehensive conceptualization of EOC.