The relationship between demographic factors and managers’ perception of unethical tone at the top

Abstract

Purpose Unethical tone at the top (UTAT) carries a lot of risks and unsolicited results for both the people and companies. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the systematic differences in managers’ perception of UTAT based on their demographic characteristics, and subsequently to specify some useful recommendations to inform how companies can assist in increasing managers’ sensitivity to the harmful top-down practices and thus support ethicality in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach Eight demographic factors that, based on prior findings from the literature, might play a role in varying perception of UTAT were examined on data from 772 management professionals working in diverse industries. The Kruskal-Wallis test statistics was utilised to infer significant differences in perceptions of UTAT among managers. Findings Findings suggest that male managers tended to perceive UTAT as significantly less harmful than did their female counterparts. Similarly, top managers inclined to perceive UTAT as less detrimental than the middle and line management levels. Managers with higher tenure (10+ years of managerial experience) perceived UTAT as more detrimental in contributing to unethical leadership decisions and workplace culture. Respondents who have studied business-oriented programs perceived UTAT to be less harmful for the company than the non-business students. Interestingly, age, level of education, span of control and even the ethics training received during career were all found to be not relevant in this respect. Originality/value Based on solid empirical findings this study fills the gap in literature on the tone at the top and helps in understanding what can be done in organisational practice to improve managers’ awareness of the damaging effects of UTAT and thus to minimise threats to an ethical workplace culture.

Tone at the Top for Sustainable Corporate Governance to Prevent Fraud

“…In light of this, organizations that are structurally similar in terms of size and organization often seem to have significant differences in terms of the number of frauds suffered. Studies have shown that, in organizations where, other things being equal, there are higher rates of fraud and other ethics and integrity issues, there is often a negative tone at the top, with senior executives who show a clear disregard for business ethics [46,52]. A negative tone makes employees reach out more often to evaluate the wrong decision and to take the less ethical and, generally, easier path.…”

“…The directives and behaviors of the managers influence the ethical principles that the company intends to pursue and the actions performed by the employees. In this framework, the tone at the top-the practical behavior (the good example)-of top management can play a very important role in corporate governance sustainability [44][45][46].…”

Unethical Leadership: Review, Synthesis and Directions for Future Research

“…In another approach to unethical leadership in work contexts, scholars have gauged the influence of various individual-, organisational-and country-specific factors on perceptions of unethical leadership. For example, managers' demographic characteristics, including age, gender, tenure and education, have been shown to influence their perceptions of unethical leadership (Lašáková& Remišová, 2019). In a slightly different context, follower perceptions of unethical leadership stem from the reputation that a leader has prior to the manifestation of infidelity at work and the degree to which the leader's discretion involved the abuse of power (Grover & Hasel, 2018).…”

Saving the moral self: unethical leadership and employee behaviors – a moral cleansing perspective

“…Afterward, Eisenbeiß and Brodbeck (2014) conducted a cross-cultural research to highlight the commonly held perceptions about unethical leaders and summarized that immoral foundations, egoism, urge to exploit and manipulate others and indifference toward feelings of subordinates are frequently associated with unethical leadership. Lašáková and Remišová (2017) described unethical leadership as a style where intentional or unintentional behaviors of leaders are harmful for their peers, subordinates and/or for the organization. Hence, unethical leadership style can be summed up as a leadership style where leaders act unethically themselves, possess self-serving intentions and to achieve their self-interest they exploit their subordinates and organizational resources.…”