Learning from stories of leadership: How reading about personalized and socialized politicians impacts performance on an ethical decision-making simulation

Logan L. Watts, Alisha M. Ness, Logan M. Steele, Michael D. Mumford

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Stories about notable, 20th-century politicians were investigated as a means by which reading stories of leadership influences subsequent ethical decision-making performance. Undergraduates read four short stories in which charismatic politicians exhibited a personalized, socialized, or neutral power orientation, followed by responding to four ethical dilemmas in the marketing domain—a distant transfer task. Results indicated that reading stories featuring personalized protagonists inhibited subsequent ethical decision-making processes. However, intensity of narrative processing, personal identification with the protagonist, and presence or absence of an ethical salience probe moderated these effects. Implications are discussed regarding the use of stories as a tool for ethical development and the importance of managing stories of leadership circulated throughout organizations and society.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)276-294
Number of pages19
JournalLeadership Quarterly
Volume29
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2018

Keywords

  • Ethical decision making
  • Ethical leadership
  • Power orientation
  • Social learning theory
  • Stories

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