Ep. 293: Ethical Leadership Isn’t Neutral - How Leaders Shape Moral Climate and Psychological Safety

Ethics in organizations live in leadership behaviors rather than documented in policies alone. We examined how leaders actively shape ethical climate and psychological safety through everyday decisions, silence, and signals.   In this episode:  Dr. Emi Barresi, Dr. Karen Mishra, Nic Krueger, Natasha Desjardins, CT Sanders, Chris O'Brien, Rich Cruz   I/O Career Accelerator Course: https://www.seboc.com/job Visit us https://www.seboc.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/sebocLI Join an open-mic event: https://www.seboc.com/events   References:   Al Halbusi, H., Williams, K. A., Ramayah, T., Aldieri, L., & Vinci, C. P. (2021). Linking ethical leadership and ethical climate to employees’ ethical behavior: the moderating role of person–organization fit. Personnel Review, 50(1), 159–185. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2019-0522   Brown, M. E., Treviño, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97(2), 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002   Huang, L., & Paterson, T. A. (2017). Group Ethical Voice: Influence of Ethical Leadership and Impact on Ethical Performance. Journal of Management, 43(4), 1157–1184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314546195   Jurkiewicz, C. L., & Giacalone, R. A. (Eds.). (2017). Radical thoughts on ethical leadership. Information Age Publishing, Inc. Koay, K. Y., & Lim, P. K. (2022). Ethical leadership and knowledge hiding: testing the mediating and moderating mechanisms. Journal of Knowledge Management, 26(3), 574–591. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-02-2021-0091   Kim, B.-J., Kim, M.-J., & Lee, J. (2024). Code green: ethical leadership’s role in reconciling AI-induced job insecurity with pro-environmental behavior in the digital workplace. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), Article 1627. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04139-2   Kuenzi, M., Mayer, D. M., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2020). Creating an ethical organizational environment: The relationship between ethical leadership, ethical organizational climate, and unethical behavior. Personnel Psychology, 73(1), 43–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12356   Marquardt, D. J., Manegold, J., & Brown, L. W. (2022). Integrating relational systems theory with ethical leadership: how ethical leadership relates to employee turnover intentions. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 43(1), 155–179. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-04-2021-0190   Mishra, A., Mishra, K., & Spreitzer, G. (2009, April 1). Downsizing the Company Without Downsizing Morale. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/downsizing-the-company-without-downsizingmorale/   Mishra, K. E. M., Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Aneil K. (1998). Preserving Employee Morale during Downsizing. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/preserving-employee-morale-during-downsizin g/   Paterson, T. A., & Huang, L. (2019). Am I Expected to Be Ethical? A Role-Definition Perspective of Ethical Leadership and Unethical Behavior. Journal of Management, 45(7), 2837–2860. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318771166   Walumbwa, F. O., Mayer, D. M., Wang, P., Wang, H., Workman, K., & Christensen, A. L. (2011). Linking ethical leadership to employee performance: The roles of leader–member exchange, self-efficacy, and organizational identification. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 115(2), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.11.002