How leaders reach to ethical leadership: An unfolding item response theory analysis

Manuscript
Published: Nov 11, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/psy_hps.30446
Keywords:
ethical leadership, item response theory, unfolding model, dominance model, Questionnaire of ethical Leadership (QueL)
Eirini Marina Mitropoulou
DYPA, Public Employment Center
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4786-9128
Leonidas Zampetakis
University of Crete
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9568-6302
Abstract

Ethical leadership (EL) is considered an important determinant of occupational antecedents, and the focus is on understanding its nomonological network. Theory initially suggested that there is an evident graduation in the manifestation of leading with ethics in the workplace, expressed by three different styles of leadership depending on their commitment to ethics: the ethical leader, the ethically-neutral leader, and the hypocritical/fake ethical leader. To date, this proposed graduation, based on the leaders' responses to ethics, has not been empirically tested. In the present study, an item response theory (IRT) model under the ideal point response/unfolding paradigm is used to examine this graduation. Approximately 650 Greek leaders fulfilled the self-report Questionnaire of ethical Leadership (QueL). The results supported that the unfolding IRT model – suggesting graduation in the response processes of individuals - showed a worse fit compared to the non-unfolding model (namely dominant) IRT model; moreover, the item location parameters didn’t reveal any cluster of response to the QueL’s items. Findings contribute greatly to ethical leadership both theoretically and empirically. From a theoretical perspective, EL is best described as a monotonic linear response construct, which highly depends on the leader's ethical virtues and behaviors and their likelihood of endorsing an ethical leadership item. Ethics is the core determinant for discerning what is right and what is wrong in the workplace. To this end, any difference in ethical leadership manifestation (i.e. ethically neutral leadership behaviors) should be regarded as a distinct construct, refraining from the genuine ethical behaviors and virtues of the leader. From an empirical perspective, implications for training and measurement are also discussed.

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