What is the value? Economic effects of ethically-oriented leadership

Abstract

In recent years a number of leadership constructs have been introduced to the literature that comprise explicit reference to the leader's ethical behavior including transformational, ethical, authentic, and spiritual leadership. These types of leadership have been posited to have a positive impact on employees and the organizations they are part of, and research has pointed to positive relations with work-related attitudes. So far, however, the question whether or not these leadership styles are also related to objectively determined organizational performance has remained unanswered. Thus, the purpose of this article is to review the empirical literature on the relation between ethically-oriented leadership and economic performance. Findings indicate that ethically-oriented leadership is in fact economically effective.