What is Virtue? Advancing the Conceptualization of Virtue to Inform Positive Organizational Inquiry

Newstead, Toby; Macklin, Robert; Dawkins, Sarah; Martin, Angela

doi:10.5465/amp.2016.0162

Cited by 49 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Character is inextricably linked with virtue because good character is built through the practice and habituation of virtues (Newstead et al, 2020a(Newstead et al, , 2020bSison and Ferrero, 2015). Virtues are acquired and socially valued dispositions that are voluntarily exhibited in the person's habitual behavior in context-relevant situations (Newstead et al, 2018). Given their importance, character and the related virtues play roles in various leadership styles, such as ethical leadership, servant leadership and transformational leadership.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtuous leadership: a source of employee well-being and trust

Hendriks

Burger

Rijsenbilt³

et al. 2020

MRR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how a supervisor’s virtuous leadership as perceived by subordinates influences subordinates’ work-related well-being and to examine the mediating role of trust in the leader and the moderating roles of individual leader virtues and various characteristics of subordinates and organizations. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted through Prolific among a self-selected sample of 1,237 employees who worked with an immediate supervisor across various industries in primarily the UK and the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The empirical results indicate that an immediate supervisor’s virtuous leadership as evaluated by the subordinate positively influences all three considered dimensions of work-related well-being – job satisfaction, work-related affect and work engagement – for a wide variety of employees in different industries and countries. A subordinate’s greater trust in the supervisor fully mediates this positive influence for job satisfaction and work engagement and partially for work-related affect. All five individual core leader virtues – prudence, temperance, justice, courage and humanity – positively influence work-related well-being. Practical implications The findings underscore that promoting virtuous leadership is a promising pathway for improved employee well-being, which may ultimately benefit individual and organizational performance. Originality/value Despite an age-old interest in leader virtues, the lack of consensus on the defining elements of virtuous leadership has limited the understanding of its consequences. Building on recent advances in the conceptualization and measurement of virtuous leadership and leader character, this paper addresses this void by exploring how virtuous leadership relates to employees’ well-being and trust.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtuous leadership: a source of employee well-being and trust

Hendriks

Burger

Rijsenbilt³

et al. 2020

MRR

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“…is (Newstead, Macklin, Dawkins, & Martin, 2018). A recent conceptualisation of virtue (Newstead et al, 2018, n.p.…”

Section: Moral Componentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting the leader back into authentic leadership: Reconceptualising and rethinking leaders

Crawford

Dawkins²,

Martin

et al. 2019

Australian Journal of Management

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Increasingly poor and unethical decision-making on the part of leaders across the globe, such as the recent Australian Cricket Ball Tampering Scandal, pose a significant challenge for society and for organisations. Authentic leadership development is one strategy that has been positioned as an antidote to unethical leadership behaviours. However, despite growing interest in authentic leadership, the construct still embodies several criticisms including conceptual clarity; leader-centricity; bias towards the person, not the leader; philosophical ambiguity; and demographic challenges. Each of these criticisms will be explored in depth to inform a reconceptualisation of the authentic leader construct, comprising indicators of awareness, sincerity, balanced processing, positive moral perspective and informal influence. Importantly, this revised conceptualisation considers how researchers can conceptually distinguish between authentic leaders, followers and individuals. To conclude, we propose a research agenda for authentic leaders, encouraging the pursuit of further construct clarity, including the development of rigorous authentic leader behaviour measures, expanding the psychometric profile of the authentic leader construct, increasing the focus on authentic followers and enhancing leader development programmes. JEL Classification: M12

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“…Leadership is a human phenomenon , human leaders possess a moral character, and moral character is composed of virtues (Aristotle, 350BCE/1962). Virtue is defined as the human inclination to think, feel, and act in ways that express moral excellence and contribute to the common good or eudemonia (Newstead et al, 2018). Therefore, developing virtue is a means of developing moral character, and moral character informs how and why individual leaders engage in the practices and processes that they do.…”

Section: Leadership Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To be virtuous, an individual must enact virtue in a way that is contextually appropriate (Newstead et al, 2018).…”

Section: Virtue and Leadership As Contextual And Relationalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The central themes of good intention and connectedness link spirituality to virtue ethics in that virtue represents an individual's internal inclination towards good (Newstead et al, 2018), and virtues enable people to live together communally (Aristotle, 350BCE/1962;MacIntyre, 1999;Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Manz et al (2006) highlight the importance of educating new managers in issues of spirituality as relevant to workplaces and urges virtues as a way of discussing and celebrating spirituality in an inclusive way.…”

Section: Aligning Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Virtues Project: An Approach to Developing Good Leaders

et al. 2019

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Virtue words, such as justice, fairness, care, and integrity frequently feature in organizational codes of conduct and theories of ethical leadership. And yet our modern organizations remain blemished by examples lacking virtue. The philosophy of virtue ethics and numerous extant theories of leadership cite virtues as essential to good leadership. But we seem to lack understanding of how to develop or embed these virtues and notions of good leadership in practice. In 2012, virtue ethicist Julia Annas pointed to a training program which she touted as a practical application of virtue ethics. The program Annas (2012) identified is called The Virtues Project, and while promising, she warned that in its current state, it lacked theorizing. We address this by aligning its practical strategies to extant theory and evidence to understand what virtues it might develop and how it might facilitate good leadership. Doing so makes two key contributions. First, it lends credence to The Virtues Project's potential as a leadership development program. Second, it provides a means of applying theories of good leadership in practice. Our overarching objective is to advance The Virtues Project as a means of incorporating virtues into workplace dynamics and embedding virtues in the practice of organizational leadership.

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What is Virtue? Advancing the Conceptualization of Virtue to Inform Positive Organizational Inquiry

Abstract: What is virtue? Advancing the conceptualization of virtue to inform positive organizational inquiry

Cited by 49 publications

References 74 publications

Virtuous leadership: a source of employee well-being and trust

Virtuous leadership: a source of employee well-being and trust

Putting the leader back into authentic leadership: Reconceptualising and rethinking leaders

The Virtues Project: An Approach to Developing Good Leaders

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