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The substantial work on cognitive moral development (CMD) by Lawrence Kohlberg and James Rest popularized the use of this construct in the literature on business ethics. This construct has been prominently used in models attempting to explain ethical/unethical behavior in management, marketing, and accounting, even though Kohlberg did not intend for the construct to be used in that manner. As a predictor of behavior, CMD has been attacked on the theoretical level, and its empirical performance has been weak. This article uses another established construct, which seems to satisfy the central criticisms of CMD, as a means of testing those complaints. The comparative multidimensional ethics scale (MES) substantially outperforms CMD, operationalized using Rest's Defining Issues Test, in every test. These results seem to suggest that other options perform better than CMD when the purpose is to model ethical/unethical behavior or even ethical judgment.

Trust and related concepts are often discussed as representing important behaviors of good leaders. We empirically tested these concepts to obtain insight into what builds trust between leaders and followers from the employee's perspective. This was accomplished through a questionnaire with 409 respondents. The results were tested empirically through both regression and structural equation modeling. Both models indicate a good fit with statistical significance for what these respondents feel build trust with their leader. The behaviors identified in this study as enhancing perceptions of trust in leaders are demonstrated by managers who behave ethically, positively influence organizational culture, treat employees fairly and consistently, encourage employee growth and development, and promote work-life balance. Our results contribute to the extant literature by empirically validating this unique set of behaviors that model trust-building with followers. This should provide practitioners with a guide for trust-building and enable researchers to further develop and test the model and its implications for organizational commitment and performance, as well as form a base for trust scale development similar to Robinson (1996).

A model of trust‐leadership is described that was used to grow a manufacturing company from 16 total employees to over 500 in eight years. The model uses trust as the base along with four other components that all reinforce trust. The authors believe the model is simple and straightforward and applicable in any Western culture.

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