Self-control Puts Character into Action: Examining How Leader Character Strengths and Ethical Leadership Relate to Leader Outcomes

Sosik, John J.; Chun, Jae Uk; Ete, Ziya; Arenas, Fil J.; Scherer, Joel A.

Abstract

Evidence from a growing number of studies suggests leader character as a means to advance leadership knowledge and practice. Based on this evidence, we propose a process model depicting how leader character manifests in ethical leadership that has positive psychological and performance outcomes for leaders, along with the moderating effect of leaders’ self-control on the character strength–ethical leadership–outcomes relationships. We tested this model using multisource data from 218 U.S. Air Force officers (who rated their honesty/humility, empathy, moral courage, self-control, and psychological flourishing) and their subordinates (who rated their officer’s ethical leadership) and superiors (who rated the officers’ in-role performance). Findings provide initial support for leader character as a mechanism triggering positive outcomes such that only when officers reported a high level of self-control did their honesty/humility, empathy, and moral courage manifest in ethical leadership, associated with higher levels of psychological flourishing and in-role performance. We discuss the implications of these results for future theory development, research, and practice.

Citation

Sosik, J. J., Chun, J. U., Ete, Z., Arenas, F. J., & Scherer, J. A. (2019). Self-control Puts Character into Action: Examining How Leader Character Strengths and Ethical Leadership Relate to Leader Outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(3), 765-781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3908-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 8, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
• Print ISSN: 0167-4544
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 160
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 765-781
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3908-0
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1310665