s of ethical leadership behavior in which they argue that authenticity or consistency between leaders' ethical intentions and behaviors moderate the impacts of leadership behavior. They also emphasized the idea that employee perceptions of authenticity in a leader also influences outcomes. In addition to setting a moral example, Zhu et al. ague that leaders must model ethical behaviors for their employees, thereby creating a culture that fosters the development of ethical behavior in others. Leaders must be encouraging, considerate, fair, and supportive in order to ensure employee trust, compliance, and work performance. A common result of a leader's adherence to ethical principles is increased organizational commitment.
Wimbush, Shepard, and Markham (1997) observed that multiple dimensions of ethical climates exist in organizations, but Agarwal and Malloy (1999) found fewer dimensions in not-for-profit organizations, including colleges and universities. Agarwal and Malloy also noted that the concept of caring is a primary factor in creating ethical environments in non-profitsùas opposed to large numbers of laws or rules, which tend to dictate behavior in for-profit organizations. It is important to note that employee perceptions of caring on the part of an organization influence their perceptions of ethical leadership.
In their study of perceptions of ethical leadership, Taylor and Strickland (2002) listed some of the most important personal attributes of an ethical leader as honesty, fairness, reliability, competence, and integrity. Other valued characteristics included the use of rational persuasion, leading by example, trustworthiness, a strong sense of responsibility, and accepting the consequences of one's actions (Taylor & Strickland, 2002).
Taylor and Strickland (2002) noted findings related to the study of leadership in the educational systems. These authors found that while leaders and faculty each agree that...