Unethical leadership behaviour in Algerian public organizations: unravelling social and organizational factors

Benlahcene, Abderrahmane; Saoula, Oussama; Ramdani, Abbas

doi:10.1108/ijoes-02-2022-0049

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…At this stage of our discussion, it is imperative to evaluate some social institutions and their functions concerning unethical leadership in some African public sectors. We have noted that several scholars (April et al, 2010, p. 152;Benlahcene et al, 2022) share with structural functionalism theory the understanding that the ongoing health of the society depends on the strengths of social structure/ social institutions and their functions, and therefore the problem of unethical leadership in some African public organizations is complicated by the interplays with the social institutions and their respective functions. To gain more insight, the paper narrows the scope of analysis to a single institution by briefly analyzing every key social institution.…”

Section: Social Institutions and Their Functional Changes In Relation...mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In this case, African social institutions are to be blamed for the problem of unethical leadership in some public-sector organizations. For instance, Benlahcene et al (2022) have condemned the unethical behaviour of Algeria's leaders as a peculiarity of the African social and organizational context. Generally, these ethical challenges are due to the dysfunction of social institutions and failure to maintain their functional role as expected.…”

Section: Social Institutions and Their Functional Changes In Relation...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unethical Leadership in the African Public Sector: A Structural Functionalist View

Kapilima

2024

J Phil Eth

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There are several theoretical frameworks for examining the problem of unethical leadership. However, most of the analyses are tied to the individual personalities and organizational contexts creating unethical leadership behaviours and fall short of underpinning the mechanisms shaped by the social system responsible for developing individual personalities and organizational contexts connected with unethical leadership in Africa's public sector. Furthermore, previous theoretical constructs have failed to adequately capture the holistic nature of unethical leadership, for example public corruption, which is a major issue in many African societies. Moreover, in order to address the problem adequately, a comprehensive understanding of all the key components of the problem and their interrelationships is required. Therefore, the paper adopts the sociological structural functionalism theory, which advocates for a holistic view of a social problem through a proper analysis of the causal mechanisms of the problem, in this case, unethical leadership in Africa's public sector. The paper's use of the theory is also supported by empirical evidence. The paper argues that unethical leadership in Africa's public sector results from the dysfunction of the continent's social institutions; hence, they cannot effectively maintain their functional roles as expected. Consequently, the institutions have failed to promote ethical conduct while at the same time failing to prevent unethical behaviour from the micro-level structures to the macro-level structures. In addition, the absence or weak mutual efforts between the social institutions exacerbate the problem. It is thus recommended that, African governments, as meta-institutions, should effectively organize, regulate, and coordinate other social institutions by enforcing the legislation and policies made. In addition, social institutions in every African state must effectively work in harmony under certain guidelines to address ethical issues, exposing and preventing unethical behaviour both in the formal and informal institutions.

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Section: Social Institutions and Their Functional Changes In Relation...mentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Social Institutions and Their Functional Changes In Relation...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unethical Leadership in the African Public Sector: A Structural Functionalist View

Kapilima

2024

J Phil Eth

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“…It is also supported by Kancharla & Dadhich (2021) in which organizational culture is the collection of traditions, values, principles, and practises that collectively give each organisation its particular personality (Kancharla & Dadhich, 2021). To foster a positive workplace culture, top management must keep an eye on unethical behaviour by employees in an organisation (Benlahcene & Meddour, 2020). As a result, organisational behaviour by members will be influenced by cultural practises at work.…”

Section: Culture At the Wokplacementioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting Ethics Courses, Teaching Styles, Ethical Culture and Ethical Behaviour of Accounting Graduates in Malaysia

2024

MAR

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The failure of accountants to maintain ethical behaviour while performing professional services has become an issue that has been discussed over the years. Ethics education and the environment has been proven to assist to shape the ethical behaviour of accounting students. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine whether accounting ethics courses, teaching styles, and ethical culture influence the ethical behaviour of accounting graduates in Malaysia. E-survey questionnaires were distributed to accounting graduates who graduated in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with less than three years of working experience in accounting/auditing-related fields. A total of 344 usable responses were received and it was analysed using PLS-SEM. The study found that teaching delivery and culture, had a positive and significant relationship with ethical behavior but ethics courses were found to have a positive but not significant relationship with ethical behaviour. The accounting industry should foster a positive ethical culture at work by providing ethics training and holding seminars to address ethical issues in the field in order to raise awareness and understanding of ethics. Accounting professional bodies and educational institutions should use ethics cases, short videos and role play in their teaching of ethics.

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“…Although it is important to understand ethical and unethical practices at all levels of organizations, scrutinizing these practices in the context of leadership is crucial because the range of impact leaders have on the behavior of followers and on shaping organizational culture (Benlahcene & Ramdani, 2019). The unethical behavior of leaders exerts negative consequences at all organizational levels and for all stakeholders, including leaders and followers, demise, organizational failure, and followers' mistrust (Chandler, 2009;Pelletier, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Poor Leadership Skills Elicit Unethical Behavior: Evidence from Public Organizations

Benlahcene

Meddour

2023

Internationally known as Journal of Government and Politics

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Global political and financial entities have witnessed many scandals linked to leaders’ unethical behavior. Previous research suggests that the susceptibility of leaders to act in an unethical way is rooted in various individual, organizational, and social factors. However, unethical leadership is scarcely examined in the context of African countries. This study explores the role of poor leadership skills and qualities in eliciting unethical leadership behavior in Algerian public organizations. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, 15 leaders and managers were included in series of in-depth interviews. The results of the data analysis revealed that poor leadership skills and competencies are critical antecedents of unethical leadership behavior within Algerian public organizations. This study contributes to the ongoing research efforts that seek to identify and minimize the causes of unethical behaviors of leaders across sectors and disciplines. This study provides insights into the construct of unethical leadership and how individual, organizational, and social factors predict leaders’ unethical behavior. While there are many studies on the issue of unethical leadership, research on the potential role of poor leadership skills in eliciting unethical behavior is scarce, especially in Algeria. This study found that there is a strong link between skills and competencies of leaders and their ethical behavior within organizational settings.

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Unethical leadership behaviour in Algerian public organizations: unravelling social and organizational factors

Cited by 5 publications

References 66 publications

Unethical Leadership in the African Public Sector: A Structural Functionalist View

Unethical Leadership in the African Public Sector: A Structural Functionalist View

Accounting Ethics Courses, Teaching Styles, Ethical Culture and Ethical Behaviour of Accounting Graduates in Malaysia

How Poor Leadership Skills Elicit Unethical Behavior: Evidence from Public Organizations

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