Ethical Leadership Development: An Examination of the Effects of Spiritual Practices and Intercultural Sensitivity

Abstract

Over the past decades, the widespread unethical behaviors of leaders have necessitated research on ethical leadership. Nevertheless, current literature provides limited insight into how leaders can develop ethical leadership. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of spiritual practices on ethical leadership development and the moderating effects of intercultural sensitivity on the relationship between spiritual practice and ethical leadership. This study also aimed to examine whether the theoretical structure of the ethical leadership construct is multidimensional or unidimensional. Data on a total of 103 leader-peer/follower dyads were collected through an online survey at various U.S. based organizations. The results of the validity test support the multidimensional model of ethical leadership. The regression assumption test results suggest that some relationships between spiritual practices and the sub-factors of ethical leadership might be curvilinear. Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses about the direct effects of spiritual practices and the moderating effects of intercultural sensitivity. Except for hypotheses about the direct effects of gratitude practice on people-orientation and fairness, no other hypotheses were supported. However, the quadratic regression analyses revealed that four quadratic relationships between spiritual practices and the sub-factors of ethical leadership were significant. The results also indicate that intercultural sensitivity moderates the quadratic relationship. A plausible explanation for the quadratic relationships is discussed based on the concept of workplace spirituality continuum. Theoretical and practice implications are discussed, along with limitations of the study and directions for future research.