Moving Beyond the Leader: The Social Embeddedness of Ethical Leadership Dynamics

Leadership is an important determinant of (un)ethical workplace behavior. Extant research has focused primarily on the traits of ethical leaders, and followers' perceptions of those traits. Unethical leadership, which has received less direct scholarly attention, is a socially embedded phenomenon in which leader behaviors influence, and are influenced by, various organizational stakeholders. In this symposium, five empirical papers from leadership experts push the boundaries of unethical leadership scholarship, by (a) moving beyond individual-level antecedents to situate unethical leadership within the organizational context, (b) illustrating the breadth of the unethical leadership construct, and (c) demonstrating the applicability and importance of the study of unethical leadership across diverse research populations and methodologies. In addition to the paper presentations, the symposium will feature a discussion led by Linda Trevino, a renowned expert in the areas of behavioral business ethics and lead...