Humility and Self-esteem as Key Predictors of Ethical Attitude in Leadership

Abstract

The paper has for objective to analyze the capacity of personality traits “Sincerity-Modesty” and “Self-esteem”, defined by the test Hexaco PI-R, to work as predictors of ethical orientations in leadership as “person-organization fit” in ethical and unethical situation. We tested the model on a group of undergraduate students (n = 156) in the form of an in-class experiment. The data were analyzed in a two-fold way: statistical correlation and a graphical analysis, using the method of the least square distances. The result show that the personality traits “Sincerity-Modesty” and “Self-esteem” work as good predictors of ethical attitude in leadership. Finding may have important implications for HR management, especially in the frame of the selection processes in the ethically conscious organizations.