Ethical leadership: inputs from leader personality and influences on organisational performance

This research investigated the link between personality, ethical leadership and organisational performance through quantitative and qualitative methods. Most research on ethical Leadership to date has focused solely on the consequences of ethical leadership, and in less quantity on its antecedents, but not as an complete input-process-output model with ethical leadership serving as the process. In the current study, leader personality is studied as a potential antecedent of ethical leader behaviour by using leaders' (41 corporate directors) main/principal motives (power, affiliation and achievement). The leaders were interviewed in order to obtain a qualitative register of their motives. Ethical Ieadership behaviour patterns are obtained from different Companies by administering questionnaires to members of their respective management teams (124 Leaders ' subordinates officers). Ethical leaderships scales include leadership behaviours as perceived by subordinates: modesty, face-saver, humane orientation, integrity, and malevolent (inverted). Organisational outcomes were obtained from objective data provided by the companies' financial directors (overall increase in income, sales, asset account, or number of employees). Results largely confirm how the main motives leaders (power, affiliation and achievement) were strongly associated with different ethical leadership behavioral patterns, such as integrity or humane orientation. Results also provide support for a positive direct relationship between ethical leadership and organisational performance. Finally, consistent with the proposed model, the effects of personality motives on organisational performance are mediated by ethical leadership behavior. These results are discussed, and practical suggestions are provided for future research.