Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research

TLDR

The review highlights key issues that must be addressed to advance research on leadership and ethics. The article reviews literature on ethics and leadership and identifies future research directions. It examines ethical leadership, incorporates emerging dark‑side organizational behavior research, and proposes three agenda topics—emotions, fit/congruence, and identity/identification—to guide future studies. The authors argue that each of these topics holds promise for extending current thinking.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this article is to review literature that is relevant to the social scientific study of ethics and leadership, as well as outline areas for future study. We first discuss ethical leadership and then draw from emerging research on “dark side” organizational behavior to widen the boundaries of the review to include un ethical leadership. Next, three emerging trends within the organizational behavior literature are proposed for a leadership and ethics research agenda: 1) emotions, 2) fit/congruence, and 3) identity/identification. We believe each shows promise in extending current thinking. The review closes with discussion of important issues that are relevant to the advancement of research on leadership and ethics.