Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity
The aim of this study was to broaden the current understanding of leader integrity by applying a social-cognitive process model to leaders’ moral decision-making. Leaders (n = 223) were classified into different integrity styles (informational, normative, or diffuse-avoidant) based on their personal...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Stockholm University Press
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.sjwop.com/index.php/su-j-sjwop/article/view/162 |
| _version_ | 1827965769234776064 |
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| author | Mari Herttalampi Noona Kiuru Dirk van Dierendonck Taru Feldt |
| author_facet | Mari Herttalampi Noona Kiuru Dirk van Dierendonck Taru Feldt |
| author_sort | Mari Herttalampi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aim of this study was to broaden the current understanding of leader integrity by applying a social-cognitive process model to leaders’ moral decision-making. Leaders (n = 223) were classified into different integrity styles (informational, normative, or diffuse-avoidant) based on their personal descriptions of how they approach moral questions and make moral decisions at work. We then investigated how followers (n = 963) perceived these leaders’ integrity (moral behavior, behavioral integrity, and consistency) and their leader-member exchange (LMX) quality by using a hierarchical leader-follower sample. Followers evaluated normative leaders to show the highest amount of consistency compared to the other integrity styles, although perceptions of leader consistency did not associate with LMX quality. Instead, follower-rated leader moral behavior had the strongest relationship with LMX quality both within and between leader-follower groups. Based on our results, morality is a more important integrity component to follower relationships than consistency. However, the leader’s moral motives behind their decisions might not translate directly and similarly to his or her followers. This means that leaders should pay attention to how transparent, fair, and equal their decisions and justifications behind them appear to others. We also provide a qualitative rating scheme for recognizing differences in personal integrity styles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:39:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7481c7afb0dc4dafae3bb42464d4ef47 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2002-2867 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:39:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Stockholm University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7481c7afb0dc4dafae3bb42464d4ef472023-04-17T07:42:12ZengStockholm University PressScandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology2002-28672022-08-0171111110.16993/sjwop.162114Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ IntegrityMari Herttalampi0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9117-0395Noona Kiuru1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2334-8507Dirk van Dierendonck2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3545-1798Taru Feldt3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7354-0487University of JyväskyläUniversity of JyväskyläRotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University RotterdamUniversity of JyväskyläThe aim of this study was to broaden the current understanding of leader integrity by applying a social-cognitive process model to leaders’ moral decision-making. Leaders (n = 223) were classified into different integrity styles (informational, normative, or diffuse-avoidant) based on their personal descriptions of how they approach moral questions and make moral decisions at work. We then investigated how followers (n = 963) perceived these leaders’ integrity (moral behavior, behavioral integrity, and consistency) and their leader-member exchange (LMX) quality by using a hierarchical leader-follower sample. Followers evaluated normative leaders to show the highest amount of consistency compared to the other integrity styles, although perceptions of leader consistency did not associate with LMX quality. Instead, follower-rated leader moral behavior had the strongest relationship with LMX quality both within and between leader-follower groups. Based on our results, morality is a more important integrity component to follower relationships than consistency. However, the leader’s moral motives behind their decisions might not translate directly and similarly to his or her followers. This means that leaders should pay attention to how transparent, fair, and equal their decisions and justifications behind them appear to others. We also provide a qualitative rating scheme for recognizing differences in personal integrity styles.https://account.sjwop.com/index.php/su-j-sjwop/article/view/162leader integritymoral decision-makingleader-member exchangemultilevel |
| spellingShingle | Mari Herttalampi Noona Kiuru Dirk van Dierendonck Taru Feldt Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology leader integrity moral decision-making leader-member exchange multilevel |
| title | Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity |
| title_full | Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity |
| title_fullStr | Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity |
| title_short | Incoherent Yet Still Moral? Followers’ Perceptions of Their Leaders’ Integrity |
| title_sort | incoherent yet still moral followers perceptions of their leaders integrity |
| topic | leader integrity moral decision-making leader-member exchange multilevel |
| url | https://account.sjwop.com/index.php/su-j-sjwop/article/view/162 |
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