Moral Indignation: A Model of Anger Expressions in Response to Unethical Behavior

Ethics scandals in organizations have brought attention to the need for ethical leadership— leaders who exhibit integrity and promote ethical behavior in those around them—to foster the ethical behavior of organizational members. While ethical leadership has been identified as one important influence on ethical behavior, we do not fully understand the role of emotional displays by ethical leaders in promoting ethical behavior. Recent research indicates that emotional expressions and emotion management are critical elements of effective leadership, making it important to understand their role in ethical leadership. Understanding the role of emotional displays in ethical leadership may help leaders respond more effectively to and prevent unethical behavior. One powerful emotional display is anger. Typically anger is viewed as a negative emotion, but recent research suggests that anger expressions can have positive benefits in some situations. To better understand outcomes of anger expressions and their implications for managing ethical behavior, we conducted a literature review examining anger in organizations, including outcomes associated with anger expressions, both positive and negative. Based on this literature review, we have developed a conceptual model explaining the role of moral indignation in responses to unethical behavior. Specifically, our model identifies when anger expressions are most likely to contribute to positive outcomes in the management of ethical behavior. Based on this model we describe implications for future research on anger expressions and behavioral ethics. We also present organizational implications and make recommendations for how anger expressions can be used to manage ethical behavior in organizations to help prevent ethics scandals in the future