Dear colleagues,
Please read the following Call for Papers for a special issue in The
Leadership Quarterly on Leader Integrity.
Integrity is often cited as a critical component of leadership. Despite
its acknowledged importance, there is little direct research about the
role integrity plays in leadership effectiveness. Palanski and Yammarino
(2009) pointed out that there are three main problems with respect to
integrity and leadership. First, there is little agreement in the
literature about the meaning of integrity. The word is frequently used
to represent a wide variety of constructs, and often overlaps with other
terms such as honesty, morality, ethics, justice, and authenticity.
Second, there is little extant theory about integrity in the leadership
literature, and theory which does exist is somewhat narrow and
fragmented. Third, there are relatively few empirical studies directly
concerning integrity and leadership.
As a beginning point of reference, Palanski and Yammarino (2007)
reviewed over thirty articles which specifically contained a definition
or definitions for integrity. They classified the various meanings of
integrity in the management literature into five main categories: 1)
integrity as wholeness; 2) integrity as consistency between words and
actions; 3) integrity as consistency in adversity; 4) integrity as being
true to oneself; 5) and integrity as morality/ethics (including
definitions such as honesty, trustworthiness, justice, and compassion).
Given this basic framework, several streams of research may already
provide robust bases for examining integrity and leadership. For
example, behavioral integrity research (Simons, 2002; Simons, Tomlinson,
& LeRoy, forthcoming) is focused on the perceived alignment between
managerial words and deeds, while authentic leadership theory (Avolio&
Gardner, 2005) identifies how individuals can stay true to themselves.
Similarly, ethical leadership (Brown, Treviño,& Harrison, 2005; Brown&
Treviño, 2006) is centered on demonstrating normatively appropriate
conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships,
including acting consistently, fairly, and in a principled manner.
The purpose of this special issue is to consider the various facets of
integrity in leadership in a more systematic way. Examples of some
potential research questions include:
• How do the various perspectives on integrity (e.g., authenticity,
ethical leadership, word-deed consistency, etc.) relate to one another?
• How is leader integrity challenged in contemporary work environments
(e.g., environmental turbulence, ethical scandals, dispersed work
groups, diverse stakeholder groups, incentive systems, etc.)?
• How do followers make attributions of leader integrity?
• How does leader integrity relate to leader effectiveness, and what
roles does context play?
• Can leader integrity be identified? Can it be developed and, if so, how?
• Is leader integrity defined similarly and does it function similarly
in different cultural contexts?
• How do conceptualizations of integrity at different levels of analysis
(individual, team, and collective) relate to one another?
• What are the drivers (e.g., leader identity, personality, incentive
systems, ethical climate or culture) and outcomes (e.g., individual and
collective performance and organizational change) of leader integrity?
Theoretical and empirical papers that address these types of questions
are invited for the special issue, which will be published in early
2013. The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2012. All authors who
would like to submit to the special issue must do so online at
http://ees.elsevier.com/leaqua/default.asp. The corresponding author
should register in the system then submit their submission on behalf of
all the authors of the paper. Please make sure that when submitting to
the system, authors select the corresponding article type for the
special issue. All other submission instructions can be found at
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620221/authorinstructions.
Please contact the Journal office,
leadershipquarterly@elsevier.com, for
assistance with online submissions. Questions directly regarding the
Special Issue or Call for Papers should be directed to the Guest Editors.
Guest Editor contact information:
Michael Palanski
Saunders College of Business
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York, USA
mpalanski@saunders.rit.edu
Tony Simons
School of Hotel Administration
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York, USA
Tony.simons@cornell.edu
Linda Treviño
Smeal College of Business
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
ltrevino@psu.edu
References:
Avolio, B.J.,& Gardner, W.L. (2005). Authentic leadership development:
Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership
Quarterly, 16, 315-338.
Brown, M.E.,& Treviño, L.K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and
future directions. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 595-616.
Brown, M.E., Treviño, L.K.& Harrison, D.A, (2005). Ethical leadership:
A social learning perspective for construct development and testing.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decisiojn Processes, 97, 117-134.
Palanski, M.E.,& Yammarino, F.J. (2007). Integrity and leadership:
Clearing the conceptual confusion. European Management Journal, 25,
171-184.
Palanski, M.E.,& Yammarino, F.J. (2009). Integrity and leadership: A
multi-level conceptual framework. Leadership Quarterly, 20, 405-420.
Simons, T. L. (2002). Behavioral integrity: The perceived alignment
between managers' words and deeds as a research focus. Organization
Science, 13, 18-35.
Simons, T.L., Tomlinson, E.,& LeRoy, H. In K. Cameron. and G. Spreitzer
(Eds.) Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
--
Michael E. Palanski, PhD
Assistant Professor
Saunders College of Business
Rochester Institute of Technology
108 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623
585-475-4758
mpalanski@saunders.rit.edu