Organizational Studies Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies Journal of Leadership &
Organizational Studies
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The Effect of Leadership on Follower Moral Identity: Does Transformational/Transactional Style Make a
Difference?
Weichun Zhu, Ronald E. Riggio, Bruce J. Avolio and John J. Sosik
Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 2011 18: 150 originally published online 17 March 2011
DOI: 10.1177/1548051810396714
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Abstract
The goal of this article is to study the effects of transformational versus transactional leadership behavior on how followers
report their level of moral identity. Using field survey data (n = 672) and experimental data (n = 225), the authors found
that transformational leadership and transactional leadership (including contingent reward and active management-byexception) have a positive effect on priming follower moral identity. In addition, results also revealed that transformational
leadership behavior has a larger positive effect on follower moral identity than transactional leadership. Furthermore,
this study established the preliminary construct validity of a scale of moral identity. The theoretical implications, practical
implications, and future research recommendations of these results are discussed.
Keywords
transformational leadership, transactional leadership, follower moral identity, follower moral development
Corresponding Author:
Weichun Zhu, School of Graduate Professional Studies at Great Valley,
The Pennsylvania State University, 30 East Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA
19355-1443, USA
Email: wzhu@psu.edu
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Zhu et al.
leaders highlight wethey differences in values. Put simply, in this study, we will follow the perspective of Bass and
Steidlmeier (1999), as well as of Burns (1978), that truly
transformational leaders are ethical, or that we refer to as
transformational leadership is what Bass and Steidlmeier
(1999) called authentic transformational leadership.
Transformational leaders raise the ethical bar by appealing to the higher moral ideals and values of followers (Bass,
1985; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Burns, 1978; Howell & Avolio,
1992). Transformational leaders model moral values themselves and use their charisma in creating a moral contagion process (Lewis, 2000) that attracts followers to model
those same moral values. The content of their moral values
often reflects the display of character strengths representing
the best in humanity such as the moral virtues of wisdom,
courage, a concern for humanity, justice, temperance, and
transcendence (Sosik, 2006). Following this rationale, followers of transformational leaders would be expected to
model and emulate their leaders moral actions.
Transformational leaders therefore possess a positive
moral perspective, which includes moral capacity, moral
efficacy, and moral courage (Burns, 1978). Moral capacity
is ones ability to recognize issues of varying moral intensity and to view those issues from multiple perspectives
while also assessing the moral implications of alternative
courses of action (May, Chan, Hodges, & Avolio, 2003).
Higher moral capacity enables leaders to view the world in
a more comprehensive way and to deal with those difficult
and intractable issues that have no clear resolution or
shortcut.
Moral efficacy represents an individuals belief that he
or she possesses the abilities, skills, resources, and motivation to address a particular moral/ethical decision (Bandura,
1991). Luthans and Youssef (2004) argued that moral efficacy can predict the outcomes of moral decision making,
whereas moral magnitude (i.e., the level of moral task difficulty at which individuals expect to be able to perform)
and moral strength (i.e., the degree of certainty that individuals possess about their capacity to perform at a designated level of moral task difficulty) both affect the nature of
moral decision making observed.
Finally, moral courage is defined as the leaders fortitude to convert moral intentions into actions despite pressures from either inside or outside of the organization to do
otherwise (May et al., 2003, p. 255). Moral courage helps
leaders confront strong environmental and external pressures to allow them to continue doing what is ethical. For
example, leaders with moral courage would be committed
to their own true values and ideals and would act authentically to be consistent with their underlying moral identity.
Taken together, we suggest that all three positive moral perspectives enable transformational leaders to successfully
confront moral dilemmas, challenges, and tests.
Moral Identity
Thomas (1997) pointed out that there are various aspects to
ones overall self-concept. The physical aspect involves
such things as an individuals perception of his or her physical attractiveness or strength. However, the moral perspective of self-concept deals with these questions: Am I a good
and moral person or am I a bad and immoral person? What
kind of moral principles and values do I hold, and how resolutely will I stand up for these moral principles and values?
Therefore, moral identity is the degree to which a person
identifies himself or herself as a moral person. Moral identity determines when and why individuals behave in an
ethical way and why they may engage in activities that
serve the best interests of the collective, such as the group,
the organization, the community, or the society. Moral identity is known as the convergence of moral ideals with ones
personal identity or the extent to which commitment to
moral values is infused into a persons self-concept (Colby
& Damon, 1992; Nasir & Kirshner, 2003).
Hart, Atkins, and Ford (1998) defined moral identity as
a commitment to ones sense of self to lines of actions that
promote or protect the welfare of others (p. 515). Erikson
(1964) viewed identity as being true to oneself in action,
which is associated with ones understanding of reality.
Aquino and Reed (2002) argued that moral identity is a
parameter of social identity and represents ones selfconception organized around a set of moral traits. Therefore,
moral identity is linked to specific moral traits and may also
be a distinct mental image of how a moral person is likely to
think, feel, and behave (Kihlstrom & Klein, 1994).
Blasi (1984) proposed that moral identity has three basic
characteristics. The first is that moral identity is rooted in
the very core of ones being or selfhood. Second, moral
identity means being true to oneself in terms of moral decision making. The third characteristic is that moral identity
is associated with truthfulness (i.e., with respect to ones
own understanding of reality). McDougall (1936) pointed
out that moral ideas are not strong if decision-making intention or moral ideas are not rooted in a moral self. In other
words, a persons moral decision intentions may not be consistent or stable across different time periods or environments if he or she does not have a strong moral identity.
Prior research (Bergman, 2002; Colby & Damon, 1992)
indicates that individuals with a strong moral identity (a)
commit to higher moral ideals or principles, (b) are more
determined to behave consistently with their moral ideals or
principles, (c) are more willing to take risks in order to be
loyal to their moral values, (d) have a greater tendency to
inspire others to think and behave ethically, and (e) place
the collective interest over their personal ego and interests.
Therefore, Blasi (1984) indicated that morality is more a
characteristic of the agent than of either action or thinking;
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Zhu et al.
we would expect followers to internalize the leaders moral
values and objectives as their own (Gardner, Avolio,
Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005; Hoffman, 1977), suggesting that transformational leadership could have a positive effect on follower moral identity.
Transformational leaders may also be able to influence
followers moral efficacy by demonstrating their knowledge and commitment to certain moral actions while
encouraging their followers to think through ethical/moral
dilemmas (Bass, 1985; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Luthans &
Avolio, 2003). Transformational leaders may also help followers extract morally convincing inferences and implications from moral experiences. This helps followers judge
the soundness of their moral evidence in support of their
views, identify moral assumptions underlying their arguments, and distinguish sound from faulty moral logic.
Viewing the internalization of the leaders moral values
and standards from a social learning theory perspective,
transformational leaders could influence followers by
selecting information that has moral relevance from the
configuration of information available in a given situation.
For example, transformational leaders may influence followers to select elements that are weighted and integrated
based on their moral rules and principles. In combination,
these strategies should enable followers to provide supporting justification for weighing various options in making
moral decisions while facilitating and strengthening the
establishment of moral identity.
In contrast, transactional leaders aim at monitoring and
controlling employees through rational or economic means.
One component of transactional leadership is contingent
reward, which refers to leadership behaviors focusing on
exchange of resources. That is, leaders provide tangible or
intangible support and resources to followers in exchange
for their efforts and performance while punishing followers
if they do not accomplish goals. Transactional leaders can
also use management-by-exceptionactive, which refers to
monitoring performance and taking corrective action as
necessary. The main focus of management-by-exception is
on setting standards and monitoring deviations from these
standards.
As to the effect of transactional leadership on follower
moral identity, since transactional leaders accept the goals,
structure, and culture of the existing organization, it is
expected that transactional leadership has a positive effect
on follower moral identity. Therefore, moral transactional
leaders could create ethics structure to instill moral standards in an organization. For example, transactional leaders
are likely to adopt explicit forms of moral practices and
strategies. They also look at ethical underpinnings, establish ethics committees, appoint chief ethics officers, and
create ethics codes and rules as the moral benchmark in
their organizations (Jose & Thibodeaux, 1999). It has been
154
Study 1
Participants and Procedures
An Internet-based survey was issued through a research
company (http://www.Zoomerang.com), which solicited
2,200 U.S. participants holding a variety of managerial
positions, which also included a broad variety of industries.
The research company sent the survey link to these potential participants on our behalf. As an incentive, these participants had the chance to win $10 gift certificates from the
Amazon Company. The final sample of 672 represented a
response rate of 30.6%. Of these, 375 (55.80%) were male
and 297 (44.20%) were female. The average age was 47.7
years (SD = 10.8) and most (70%) had a 4-year college
degree or higher. The leaders had an average of 20.5 (SD =
5.12) followers and had been in their current positions for
an average of 9.8 years (SD = 8.7). More than 70% of leaders rated were upper- to middle-level executives. Furthermore, participants were from more than 13 different
industries, including retail/wholesale (23%), banking
(13%), information technology (13%), and manufacturing
(12%). These participants rated their direct supervisors
leadership using a transformational leadership scale and
their own self-reported moral identity.
In the analysis, we randomly divided the whole sample
into two subsamples. One subsample (336 cases) was used
to conduct the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the newly created scale of
moral identity. The other subsample (336 cases) was used to
test hypotheses. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
results showed that main demographic variables, such as
gender, age, education, and industries, did not differ across
these two subsamples.
Measures
The Scale of Moral Identity. Though Aquino and Reed
(2002) developed a scale to measure moral identity, we did
not use their scale in our study for the following two reasons. First, the conceptualization of their scale is relatively
narrow since it only aspires to measure ones self-reported
importance of moral traits in ones self-concept. Second,
because of the question format of the scale, it was not possible to adapt it for use in the current study. Specifically, the
Aquino and Reeds moral identity scale determines the
importance a individual places on the level of moral identity associated with ones life. In the current set of studies,
we were interested in assessing how different leadership
styles primed an individual assuming a followers role
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Zhu et al.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Among Variables (N = 336, Study 1)
1. Age
2. Gender (dummy)
3. Education (dummy)
4. Managerial level (dummy)
5. Income (dummy)
6. Transformational leadership
7. Transactional leadership
8. Follower moral identity
Mean
SD
47.47
0.50
0.65
0.38
0.29
3.67
3.34
4.45
10.83
0.50
0.47
0.49
0.45
0.89
0.66
0.62
1
.31**
.01
.20**
.14**
.09
.05
.27**
.20**
.23**
.23**
.04
.10
.08
.033
.19**
.05
.02
.02
.28**
.18**
.12*
.09
.04
.03
.04
.69**
.30**
.17**
Note. Dummy variables: gender (1 = female, 0 = male); education (1 = degree or above, 0 = others); income (1 = $100,000 or above; 0 = below $100,000);
managerial level (1 = upper middle and top level, 0 = middle and lower level).
*p < .05. **p < .01.
Results
The descriptive statistics and correlations for all study variables are presented in Table 1. Notably, follower moral
identity had a significant positive relationship with transformational leadership (r = .30, p < .01) and transactional
leadership (r = .17, p < .01).
Hypotheses Testing
Sociodemographic variables are important control variables in ethics research (Nill & Schibrowsky, 2005). For
example, age is found to be positively related to ethical
decision making (Loe, Ferrell, & Mansfield, 2000; Yoo &
156
.31**
.20**
.02
.02
.07
.11
.09
Model 2
.30**
.20**
.03
.02
.02
.29**
.18
.17
.31**
.20**
.02
.02
.07
.09
.11
Model 2
.31**
.21**
.02
.05
.02
.17**
.12
.14
Study 2
Sample and Experimental Conditions
The data for this experiment were collected in several public school systems in the Midwest United States. A total of
215 teachers participated in the web-based experiment. Participants were assured that their participation was voluntary
and that their responses would be kept strictly confidential.
Among the participants, approximately 75% of the respondents were female, and 95.3% of the respondents were Caucasian. Approximately one third of the teachers were from
high school, middle school, and elementary school (32.6%,
30.7%, and 36.7%, respectively). About two thirds (64.7%)
of the respondents had masters degrees or above.
After completing an informed consent form to participate in the online study, all participants were randomly
assigned to one of two experimental conditions (transformational leadership [TFL] 113 cases; transactional leadership [TSL] 102 cases). ANOVA results revealed that all
control variables, including gender, marital status, education, years in the current position, years in the current organization, and type of school, did not differ across the two
conditions, suggesting that there was initial equivalence
before the leadership intervention.
Experimental Task
In the context of the experimental procedures, participants
(e.g., teachers) were asked to read a short story about a principal, who represented either a transformational or transactional leader in terms of specific actions/behaviors that are
described in greater detail below. Then, respondents rated
the principals leadership style as a manipulation check followed by an evaluation of their own moral identity assuming that they were teachers under the supervision of the
principal in the scenario.
Manipulations
Manipulation of transformational leadership actions/behaviors. The transformational leadership manipulations were
based on Bass and Avolios (1994) behavioral descriptions
of the components comprising transformational leadership.
Transformational leadership includes four Is of idealized
influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation,
and individualized consideration. The detailed message
used to manipulate transformational leadership behaviors/
actions was as follows:
In his school leadership role, John has provided us
with ideas that have challenged our basic thinking on
how to best lead in our classrooms (Intellectual
Stimulation). John believes in helping us and our
students to understand the basic meaning underlying
our work together, engaging in the shared goal of
learning together, and building the best learning community (Idealized Influence). He views the classroom
as center stage for leadership at the most local
level. John makes decisions by taking time to elicit
our views on how best to evaluate the situation and
then challenges core assumptions that need to be
addressed in the school (Intellectual Stimulation). He
works to constantly get us to question the status quo
to find a better way of approaching problem issues
and to consider what would be the most positive outcome for the greatest number of people (Intellectual
Stimulation, Inspirational Motivation). His over
arching goal is to create a positive, optimistic school
culture that breeds hope at all levels of the school
(Inspirational Motivation).
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Zhu et al.
John is the type of person that gets to know everyone. He is very good at recalling peoples names, and
shows a genuine interest in getting to know each
individual. He tends to focus a lot of his energy on
figuring out what are our individual strengths,
and then sets about challenging us to use those
strengths to achieve our full potential (Individualized
Consideration).
John has frequently demonstrated his commitment
to our school. He is generally the last one to leave the
building after school, and after an event. He makes a
lot of personal sacrifices in terms of his time and
resources to help us be the kind of school he envisions we can be (Idealized Influence).
Manipulation of transactional leadership actions/behaviors.
The transactional leadership manipulation was based on
Bass and Avolios (1994) behavioral descriptions of the
components comprising transactional leadership. Transactional leadership was characterized by contingent reward
and active management-by-exception in this study. The
detailed message used to manipulate transactional leadership behaviors/actions was as follows:
As a leader, John thinks that employees are motivated
by just reward and punishment and that organizations
like school systems work best with a clear chain of
command. He believes that we as teachers need to do
what he tells us to do to achieve the best results. He
often says: Do as I have asked in terms of goals and
expectations and I will make sure you get the
resources and rewards you need to be successful. Fail
to meet our agreed upon expectations and I will be
swift in correcting the problem. Both in success and
in failure you will know my position (Contingent
reward).
John is very hands on in terms of his style, and
constantly monitors and checks whether we have
deviated from the prescribed teaching goals and
deliverables for the school. If a teacher, staff member,
or student does something wrong, John will point it
out immediately and take whatever punitive action is
necessary. John spends a lot of time in trying to get
us to avoid making mistakes in our school. We all
know very clearly that when he allocates work to us,
he expects that we are fully responsible for it and to
make him aware immediately if we cant achieve the
goals. He is not someone who enjoys surprises, nor
excuses (Management-by-exception active).
John regularly spends time clarifying the goals we
have and his expectations in terms of deliverables.
Although he is swift in correcting mistakes, he is also
equally swift in providing rewards for achieving
expected performance. John is a performance driven
leader who focuses on outcomes, and is less concerned
Measures
Transformational/transactional leadership. The manipulation of transformational/transactional leadership was evaluated by the five items/three items of the MLQ (Bass &
Avolio, 2003). Respondents indicated whether they agreed
with the statements on a 5-point scale ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A sample item of
transformational leadership (Cronbachs = .88) was as
follows: I expect this principal to re-examine critical
assumptions to question whether they are appropriate. One
sample item of transactional leadership (Cronbachs =
.71) was as follows: I expect this principal to provide me
with assistance in exchange for my efforts.
Moral identity. The same 5-item scale used in Study 1
(survey study) was adapted for the simulation. Respondents
indicated whether they agreed with the statements on a
5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree) imagining that they were under the supervision of the principal in the scenario. Sample item: I
would view being an ethical person as an important part of
who I am. The Cronbachs alpha of this scale in this sample was .91.
Results
Manipulation check. Regarding the manipulation check
score for transformational leadership, results revealed that
the transformational leadership manipulation score in the
TFL condition (mean = 4.27, SD = 0.91) was significantly
higher, F(1, 213) = 110.01, p < .01, than that in the TSL
condition (mean = 3.00, SD = 0.85). As for the manipulation check score for transactional leadership, results
revealed that the transactional leadership manipulation
score in the TFL (mean = 3.83, SD = 0.85) was significantly
lower, F(1, 213) = 5.90, p < .05, than in the TSL condition
(mean = 4.08, SD = 0.69). These results suggest that the
manipulation of both transformational leadership and transactional leadership achieved the desired effects, although
the transformational scores in the TSL condition were
higher than expected.
The descriptive statistics and correlations for all variables are shown in Table 4.
Hypotheses Testing
Hypotheses 1 and 2 predicted that both transformational
and transactional leadership would be positively related to
follower moral identity. As shown in Table 4, both transformational leadership (r = .42, p < .01) and transactional leadership (r = .16, p < .05) are significantly correlated with
follower moral identity, providing support for Hypotheses 1
158
Gender
Degree
Years in current teaching position
Years in this organization
Transformational leadership
Transactional leadership
Follower moral identity
Mean
SD
0.23
0.60
15.20
8.81
3.67
3.95
3.68
0.42
0.49
9.79
8.29
1.09
0.77
0.91
0.06
0.03
0.15*
0.01
0.02
0.12
0.16*
0.20**
0.04
0.09
0.01
0.70**
0.03
0.07
0.02
0.04
0.11
0.05
0.38**
0.42**
0.16*
34.81
669.57
1.80
0.28
0.06
0.36
30.62
171.87
3168.56
206.68
df
5
1
1
1
1
1
1
209
215
214
Mean Square
Significance
6.96
669.57
1.80
0.28
0.06
0.36
30.62
0.82
8.466
814.21
2.19
0.33
0.07
0.44
37.24
.00
.00
.14
.56
.79
.52
.00
Note. Dependent variable: follower moral identity. Leadership group: 1 = transformational leadership, 0 = transactional leadership.
a. R2 = .17 (adjusted R2 = .15).
and 2. Hypothesis 3 predicted that transformational leadership would have a larger positive effect on follower moral
identity than transactional leadership. The ANCOVA result
(F = 37.24, p < .01) in Table 5 showed that follower moral
identity (mean = 4.27, SD = 0.91) in the TFL leadership
condition was significantly higher (mean = 3.31, SD = .90)
than in the TSL leadership condition, providing support for
Hypothesis 3. The above experimental results showed that
both transformational leadership and transactional leadership had a positive effect on followers reporting of their
level of moral identity. Furthermore, transformational leadership was also found to have a larger positive effect on
follower moral identity than transactional leadership.
The results showed that we were able to replicate the
findings obtained from the survey study in the experimental
study.
Discussion
Taken together, the results of these studies suggest that both
transformational and transactional leadership have a positive priming effect on follower moral identity. Compared
Theoretical Contributions
The first theoretical contribution lies in the fact that we
extended transformational leadership theory by examining
the effect of transformational leadership on follower moral
perspectives. The effect of transformational leadership on
developing followers into moral agents has been at the
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Zhu et al.
center of transformational leadership theory (Bass, 1985,
1998; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999;
Burns, 1978). This is one of the first empirical studies that
examined the effect of transformational leadership on follower self-reported moral perspectives. Research findings
from these studies suggested that transformational leaders
can transform their followers into moral agents presumably
by demonstrating their own standards of virtuous, ethical,
and moral conduct. To do this, such leaders would be
expected to prime followers to place greater importance on
moral and ethical standards, which we expected to be
reflected in how participants in the current study also
viewed themselves in terms of judging their moral identity.
Second, this research makes a theoretical contribution to
the ethical decision-making literature. Although prior ethical decision-making models have considered moral intensity (Jones, 1991), issues-related characteristics (Trevio,
1986), and other organizational and individual factors (e.g.,
Hunt & Vitell, 1986), these prior models have neglected the
central role of leadership and moral identity, which influences what followers rely on as a basis for deciding on
moral action. This study has examined the important role of
leadership in potentially influencing follower ethical decision making.
This research also contributes a new scale for measuring
follower moral identity. This brief scale demonstrated good
psychometric properties and can be used by scholars investigating moral identity in adults, especially where future
research is examining how leadership primes followers to
view themselves as being at higher or lower levels of moral
identity. For example, in Jones (1991) ethical decision
model, there are four stages: moral awareness, moral judgment, moral intention, and moral behavior. One possible
research question is whether the manipulation of ones
moral identity based on the leadership that individual experiences will influence these four stages. If there is an effect,
what is the underlying influence process through which this
effect happens? Furthermore, the scale of moral identity
could be used to compare the difference between moral
identity and other relevant scales, such as moral intensity,
on moral decision making.
Finally, this research also makes an important contribution to research in moral development. In the area of moral
development, a number of researchers (Bandura, 1991;
Hoffman, 1977; Kegan, 1982; Kohlberg, 1969; Piaget,
1932; Reed, Aquino, & Levy, 2007; Weaver, 2006) have
attempted to explain the individual and situational factors
that influence moral development. For example, Hoffmans
work (1988) suggests that moral norms are transferred
through social moralization processes and that the development of an individuals empathy and related moral emotions are important antecedents for their moral motivation
and moral action. Bandura and other authors also focus on
identifying the antecedents to moral development by proposing that parental practices, actions, and behaviors have a
significant effect on a childs moral development, including
moral identity and moral action (Bandura, 1991; Hoffman,
1977; Kegan, 1982). Very few researchers, however, have
examined the role of leadership in affecting follower moral
identity development. Our research has started to fill this
gap by taking transformational and transactional leadership
factors into account and by generalizing it to working adults
in organizations in different industries. We believe that it
will be of great importance to further examine the role of
leadership in affecting followers moral development since
employees spend a large amount of time working with their
leaders. Indeed, we have witnessed in the current study how
a relatively short leadership manipulation primed participants in different leadership conditions to report out significantly different levels of moral identity. Future research
needs to further examine how such short interactions with
leaders or other significant role models could affect follower moral identity.
Practical Implications
The first practical implication is that managers by setting
high moral standards can likely strengthen follower moral
identity, which could consequently develop follower ethical
decision making and behaviors. Our findings showed that
leaders exhibiting transformational leadership behaviors
significantly affected how followers perceived their level
of moral identity. Based on our current preliminary findings, we can speculate that transformational leaders set high
standards of moral and ethical conduct for their followers to
emulate (Avolio, 2005; Bass, 1985; Bass & Riggio, 2006;
Burns, 1978). With strong moral values and goals, such
leaders promote ethical policies, procedures, and processes
within their organization. Being consistently high ethical
role models or moral exemplars would be expected to
encourage followers to establish their own internal set of
moral principles and ideals. Such leadership should help
establish a basis for enhancing follower moral identity
(Bass, 1985; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Burns, 1978). Transformational leaders also show concern for followers needs,
feelings, and development of morality. By offering constructive and positive moral feedback to their followers,
such leaders help improve followers understanding of their
own moral perspectives and those of others while also
developing a higher level of moral perspective and interpersonal ability in followers (Eisenberg, 2000; Hoffman,
1988).
Another important practical implication is that, to
develop moral followers, organizations need to develop
transformational leadership across different levels in
an organization. With strong moral values and goals,
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Zhu et al.
Appendix
The Scale of Moral Identity
Please indicate the degree to which you agree with the following statements (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).
There is no right or wrong answer.
1. I view being an ethical person as an important part
of who I am.
2. I am committed to my moral principles.
3. I am determined to behave consistent with my
moral ideals or principles.
4. I am willing to make a sacrifice to be loyal to my
moral values.
5. I am willing to place the collective interest over
my own personal ego and interest.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests
with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research
and/or authorship of this article.
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Bios
Weichun Zhu is an Assistant Professor of Management and
Organization and Co-Professor-in-Charge of the Master of
Leadership Development program at Penn State Universitys
School of Graduate Professional Studies in suburban
Philadelphia. His research interests include transformational/