DIFFERENTIAL ETHICAL ATTITUDES PREDICT THE QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP RELATIONSHIPS

This study examined the impact of the differences in the way employees and their supervisors see ethical dilemmas. An ethical attitudes scale of vignettes was developed to cover six categories of ethical dilemmas – business, discrimination, environment, marketing, personal finances and sexuality. The responses of 152 male and female employees demonstrated that employees have a “more strict ” ethical attitude towards non-organisational rather than organisational ethical dilemmas. To determine the way in which employees see themselves as ethically similar to their supervisors, the respondents ’ responses were compared with the respondents ’ perceptions of their supervisors ’ responses to the same ethical dilemmas. A small but significant contribution to the quality of the leadership relationship can be accounted for by the ethical similarity of an employee and their supervisor. Of the personal characteristics examined, the younger, less educated and more highly social desirable respondents were found to be more ethically strict that their opposites. The leadership theory that examines the dyadic or paired relationship between a leader and a follower (called “member”) is Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) (Graen & Scandura, 1987; Graen, Novak, & Sommerkamp, 1982). This social exchange theory focuses on the relationship between the leader and member as it