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J Bus Ethics (2012) 108:299312 DOI 10.1007/s10551-011-1091-7
CEO Ethical Leadership, Ethical Climate, Climate Strength, and Collective Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Yuhyung Shin
Received: 3 March 2011 / Accepted: 8 August 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract In spite of an increasing number of studies on ethical climate, little is known about the antecedents of ethical climate and the moderators of the relationship between ethical climate and work outcomes. The present study conducted rm-level analyses regarding the relationship between chief executive ofcer (CEO) ethical leadership and ethical climate, and the moderating effect of climate strength (i.e., agreement in climate perceptions) on the relationship between ethical climate and collective organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Self-report data were collected from 223 CEOs and 6,021 employees in South Korea. The results supported all study hypotheses. As predicted, CEOs self-rated ethical leadership was positively associated with employees aggregated perceptions of the ethical climate of the rm. The relationship between ethical climate and rm-level collective OCB was moderated by climate strength. More specically, the relationships between ethical climate and interpersonally directed collective OCB and between ethical climate and organizationally directed collective OCB were more pronounced when climate strength was high than when it was low. Theoretical and practical implications of these ndings are addressed herein.
Keywords Ethical leadership Ethical climate
Climate strength Organizational citizenship behavior
Due to recent corporate scandals and increasing attention to the importance of corporate social responsibility, the need
for strong corporate ethics is greater than ever (Waddock 2004). In accordance with this global trend, a vast amount of research has explored the relationships between organizational ethics and outcomes. A majority of corporate ethics research has focused on ethical climate as a critical antecedent of organizational outcomes. Ethical climate is dened as employees shared perceptions of the ethical practices and procedures of a rm (Victor and Cullen 1988). Past research has shown that ethical climate is signicantly associated with a number of work outcomes such as job satisfaction (Deshpande 1996; Eli and Alpkan 2009; Schwepker Jr. 2001; Tsai and Huang 2008; Valentine and Fleischman 2004), organization commitment (Cullen et al. 2003; Schwepker Jr. 2001; Tsai and Huang 2008), turnover intentions (Mulki et al. 2009; Schwepker Jr. 2001), ethical behavior (Deshpande and Joseph 2009; Wimbush et al. 1997), and in-role...