Team Level Antecedents and Consequences of Ethical Leadership: A Review and Future Directions

Abstract

The current study conducted a comprehensive review of previous studies that have examined the antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership at the team level.The methodology focused on elucidating theories pertaining to the concept of ethical leadership, with the aim of proposing new theories that can be used to explain relationships related to ethical leadership, specifically the theories of signaling and attribution.The current paper also emphasizes the importance, in future studies, of utilizing modern theories to expand the concept of moral leadership and achieve a more comprehensive understanding of its dynamics.The incorporation of theories such as signaling theory and attribution theory can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms and processes underlying ethical leadership.The analysis results revealed that ethical leadership at the group level has predominantly been unexplored, presenting researchers with opportunities to uncover novel findings and leaders with prospects to enhance their effectiveness.The study presented new variables regarding the antecedents leading to ethical leadership, including internal factors such as leader ethical voice and external factors such as a cynicism climate.It also presented new variables regarding the consequences of ethical leadership at the group level, such as group sanctioning, group cooperation, and group social undermining.