Purpose-Scholars have adopted a multiple ethical paradigms approach in an attempt to better understand the bases upon which everyday ethical dilemmas are resolved by educational leaders. The aim of this study is to examine the ethical considerations in ethical judgments of aspiring principals. Design/methodology/approach-To examine the ethical considerations involved in school leadership decision making, a specially designed ethical perspective instrument was developed that draws on the multiple ethical paradigms. This exploratory instrument was pre-tested for validity and reliability among school principals and students of educational administration. The research sample consisted of 52 participants in principal training programs in Israel. Findings-Negative correlations were found between choices reflecting values of fairness and those reflecting utilitarianism and care. In addition, negative correlations were found between choices reflecting values of community and those reflecting care, critique, and profession. Critique turned out to be the value most widely adopted by educational leaders to solve ethical dilemmas, followed by care and profession. Originality/value-The common notion in the literature is that the various ethics complement one another. There is, however, little empirical work on ethical judgments of educational practitioners. The importance of this exploratory research is twofold: first, it examines the extent to which multiple ethical considerations can be taken into account simultaneously; and second, it identifies the prevailing values that come into play most often.

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PurposeThis study aims to explore the conception and construct of ideological leadership (IL) as it relates to public organizations, such as public schools, and to validate a tool for its measurement in this setting.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 633 teachers working at 69 randomly-sampled Israeli public schools. In each school, an average of nine (SD = 2) randomly-sampled teachers completed questionnaires that measure IL, transformational leadership, organizational commitment, leader-member exchange and motivational factors. The data underwent validity and hypotheses tests.FindingsThe hypothesized presence of the personalized and socialized IL orientations among public-school principals has been confirmed. Only personalized IL predicted teachers' outcomes above and beyond transformational leadership, affecting measures of organizational commitment, leader-member exchange and controlled motivation.Originality/valueNew evidence supports the validity of this proposed measurement tool. New evidence also suggests that although ideology has been known to be a factor of charismatic leadership, IL in close public-school settings accentuates practices of control, rather than proselytizing coherent worldviews to teachers. This, in turn, may have a deleterious influence on work outcomes and outweigh the possible benefits of IL. Accordingly, it is suggested that school leaders should critically consider the desirability of embracing ideological zeal as part of their leadership tools.