On the Psychology of Displaying Ethical Leadership: A Behavioral Ethics Approach
Given the abundance of recent high-profile ethical scandals, it is not surprising that social scientists have increasingly turned their attention to the subject of ethical leadership. After all, leaders are expected to not only act ethically themselves, but also to promote ethical behaviour among their employees. But recent research from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) shows that the behaviour of followers can influence the ethics of leaders.
In his dissertation On the Psychology of Displaying Ethical Leadership: A Behavioral Ethics Approach, PhD candidate Niek Hoogervorst analyses when and why leaders actually engage in ethical leadership behaviour and gathers insights into the psychology behind ethical leadership. The results of his research show the motives and dispositions of leaders themselves, the motives and actions of their followers and situational influences interactively affect the ethical behaviour of leaders. Ultimately this research should lead to a more balanced understanding of ethical leadership and how business ethics can be better regulated.
<link people niek-hoogervorst _blank>Hoogervorst defended his dissertation at RSM on 23 September 2011. His promoter was <link people david-de-cremer _blank>Prof. Dr David De Cremer, Professor of Behavioural Business Ethics at RSM. His co-promoter was <link people marius-van-dijke _blank>Dr Marius van Dijke. Other members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof. Dr Eric van Dijk, Prof. Dr Lucas Meijs, Prof. Dr Deanne den Hartog, Dr Jeroen Stouten and Dr Steffen Giessner.
About Niek Hoogervorst
<link people niek-hoogervorst _blank>Niek Hoogervorst (Hoogmade, the Netherlands, 1980) received his Bachelor’s degree in Management, Economics and Law from the Haagse Hogeschool in 2001. He pursued his fascination with human interactions and behaviour in 2002 by studying Psychology for a Master’s degree in Social and Organizational Psychology at Leiden University, and graduated in 2006. From his work with Arjaan Wit on his Bachelor thesis, and then with Peter de Heus and Eric van Dijk on his Master Thesis, Niek became enthusiastic about researching. As a result, he started to work as a PhD student for David de Cremer in 2007, with additional supervision by Marius van Dijke. The research reported in this dissertation was conducted at the University of Tilburg, and from December 2008 at Rotterdam School of Management. His research has been published in Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Niek currently works as a post-doctoral researcher at the Erasmus Centre for Strategic Philanthropy.
Abstract of On the Psychology of Displaying Ethical Leadership: A Behavioral Ethics Approach
Given the abundance of ethical scandals in businesses, sports, governments and religious organisations, it should come as no surprise that social scientists have increasingly put ethical leadership on the forefront of their research agenda. However, the literature on ethical leadership has primarily taken a normative approach, suggesting what leaders should do. This approach does not help in explaining why leaders sometimes deviate from such moral standards. In fact, little empirical work has been conducted on the
question of when or why leaders actually engage in ethical or unethical behaviour (a behavioural ethics approach).
The research presented in this dissertation aims to take a first step in filling this gap in the literature by identifying and examining antecedents of several ethical leader behaviours. Hoogervorst aims to answer important empirical questions such as: When do leaders go beyond their self-interest? When do leaders treat their followers in a fair manner? And, do leaders consistently take action against unethical followers, or do they sometimes condone unethical follower behaviour? In answering such questions, he will show that aspects of leaders themselves (motives and dispositions), aspects of their followers (motives and actions) and aspects of the environment in which leaders operate interact in determining whether leaders engage in ethical leader behaviours or not.
