A comparison of two groups of college students, at a public state university and a private religious school, yields the same results: undergraduates' interpretations of recent business scandals make distinctions between public and private behavior. Students admire ''family men'' even when they are caught at fraud. The students' interpretations illustrate a significant gap in ethical theories: the benefits of a group perspective for corporate citizenship versus individual family values. Most leadership theories, including stakeholder theories, do not address this disjunction. This article describes the phenomenon and maps the ethics literature to locate the dynamic forces underlying the empirical and theoretical disconnections between leadership and ethics.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This article aims to report the results of an international survey (USA and New Zealand) that tested relationship effects on ethical behaviour. The findings point to the impact of perceived social bonds on ethical decision-making. They also reinforce the cultural specificity of ethics. Both these findings confirm the importance of participatory, ground-up, discussion-based approaches to developing organisational ethical standards. The article discusses some implications of these findings for internal communicators involved with ethics programmes in organisations. Design/methodology/approach -The research used an established scenario-style survey to test respondents' ethical decision-making behaviours under different circumstances. Findings -This article discusses two results that will impact on internal communication approaches to stimulating ethical attitudes and behaviours: the positive influence on people making ethics-related decisions of a perceived relationship with those affected by the decision, and cultural differences.Research limitations/implications -The research is limited by the functionalist, hypothetical, descriptive survey design which identifies responses but not motivations, and findings are limited to the specific scenarios described. The results show the importance of future research to elaborate connections between perceived relationships, ethics, and culture. Practical implications -The paper offers practitioners a research method, which they can use to stimulate personal and group reflection among staff about ethical decision-making and the different factors that can influence ethical choices. In confirming a connection between perceived relationships and choosing more ethical behaviour towards others, the findings may also reinforce the importance of internal relationship building as an important aspect of organisational investment in ethics-related outcomes such as fraud reduction and reputation management. Originality/value -The research provides evidence for some connections that have not previously been explored in the organisational context, between perceived relationships and ethical outcomes. It also confirms the cultural diversity of et...

Those charged with developing and educating leaders need to look beyond current theories about thinking and learning, the tenets of action learning and situated learning, and Bloom's taxonomy of learning domains. An examination of three cases involving strategic problem-solving in virtual environments provides empirical evidence of high-level learning in situations involving seemingly unsolvable, or wicked, problems. It also offers guidance for the creation of lesson plans that encourage the self-understanding, group collaboration, and critical thinking skills that are essential to success in addressing the challenges of contemporary business.

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