1-s2.0-s0090261605000380-main

‘‘Somebody I Look Up To:’’

Ethical Role Models inOrganizations

GARY R. WEAVER LINDA KLEBE TREVINO BRADLEY AGLE

Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 313–330, 2005 ISSN 0090-2616/$ – see frontmatter� 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2005.08.001www.organizational-dynamics.com

‘‘I want to be just like him.’’

– mid-career naval officer

‘‘This was a guy I wanted to be like’’

– low-level manager

When Dale Prows went to work for aleading chemical company several years agoas vice president of global purchasing andsupply, he had been hired specifically to cen-tralize what earlier had been a decentralizedoperation. Reflecting on that assignment, Dalenotes that he tends to act very quickly, to get ajob done and move on to the next. In a majorinitiative such as the centralization project,this means that he might not always be sensi-tive enough to the needs and concerns ofothers. But during that project, Dale foundhimself tempering his speed and ambitionbecause of a question he kept asking himself:‘‘What would Jon do?’’ Earlier in his career,Dale had worked closely with Jon Huntsman,chairman of Huntsman Corporation. Daleremembered that, in similar situations, hisformer colleague would have consideredthe impact of his decisions and actions onothers. And so Dale tried to follow that exam-ple. Looking back, he thinks that the outcomeof the centralization project was far moresuccessful than it would have been had henot kept in mind Jon Huntsman’s example.

Acknowledgments: Research supported by the EthAlfred Lerner College of Business and

Several years ago Kathryn Reimann,senior vice president of global complianceat American Express Co., was faced with thechallenge of bringing together two teams thathad experienced friction among some teammembers in the past. Near the end of onemeeting, the level of antagonism amongsome participants became obvious and per-sonal, and made others uncomfortable.Kathryn interrupted the meeting and said:‘‘You guys may have thought this was anacceptable meeting. I did not. I will not leadanother meeting where I feel like I need tohide the scissors in the room. You guys goand do whatever you need to do to hammerout your differences, or figure out how tokeep them out of our meetings. If you can’tdo that, you will not be part of my team,because I will not accept people treating oneanother like this.’’ Her invitation to do what-ever was necessary to deal with past hardfeelings, together with the assurance thatdisrespectful behavior would not be toler-ated, proved to be very helpful in bringingthis team together as a productive and satis-fying working group. In reflecting on thisexperience, Kathryn believes that she gainedsome of her confidence for acting with suchboldness from having watched the actionsof a highly respected senior executive sheworked with very early in her career. When

ics Resource Center Fellows Program and theEconomics, University of Delaware.

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he received and verified reports that anothersenior manager – a very strong performer ina very competitive environment – was nottreating people well, he publicly fired himand let it be known that no amount of successprovided an excuse for mistreating people.

ETHICS, ROLE MODELING,AND ETHICAL ROLEMODELING

These two examples provide evidence ofhow managers can influence others by ser-ving as role models for ethical behavior. Intoday’s climate of high-profile business scan-dals, much attention focuses on the role topexecutives play in setting the ethical tone oftheir organizations. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act,for example, specifically targets top levelexecutives. Research studies also havedemonstrated the importance of top manage-ment commitment in fostering ethical busi-ness practices within an organization. Butemployees often are influenced most bythose closest to them—the people they workwith every day. Moreover, other research hasshown that top-down initiatives to fosterorganizational ethics are limited in impact.And so, although top management is clearlyimportant, might we be missing something ifwe do not also focus on the positive ethicalimpact that one employee can have onanother, or that any manager can have onsubordinates, simply by virtue of modelingethical behavior?

As the examples above illustrate, it is co-workers and immediate supervisors, not dis-tant executives, who often serve as role mod-els for ethical behavior at work. Topexecutives, after all, often are faraway fig-ures, and their influence on employees isfiltered in ways that can distort, magnify,or minimize their impact. Moreover, employ-ees sometimes view top executives cynically,especially in this era of skyrocketing execu-tive compensation. Finally, despite all theresources that organizations spend on formalethics and legal compliance initiatives, anddespite the efforts put into high-level pro-

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nouncements about company values, little isknown about the informal factors that makeone person a key ethical influence on anotherin the workplace. That is, what makes for anethical role model at work? And what, inturn, can managers and employees do thatwill help make them positive influences onothers when it comes to ethics at work?

Modeling is a well-documented meansof transmitting values, attitudes, and beha-viors in all types of settings, including work.People learn much of what they know notthrough direct experience, but by observingthe behavior of others. In the modeling pro-cess, people identify with another person,and internalize the role model’s values, beha-viors, or attitudes. In effect, people form amental picture of how a role model acts invarious situations, and then apply that imageto the varied and novel situations they them-selves encounter. In effect, people use rolemodels to help define themselves and guidetheir own behavior. When it comes to ethicalbehavior at work, modeling is likely a power-ful learning tool. Yet despite this, we knowlittle about role modeling and how it worksin the ethics arena.

Many organizations take pains to socia-lize new employees into ‘‘the way things aredone around here,’’ often assigning formalmentors to newcomers to ‘‘show them theropes.’’ But as effective as these mentorsmight be in terms of modeling everydaybusiness practices, they might not exhibitthe traits and behaviors that make themeffective ethical role models. Do they behavein ways that encourage ethical conduct in thepeople assigned to work with them? Whatare those ways? Moreover, the mentoringprocess is different from the modeling pro-cess. The mentoring relationship typically isintentional; both mentor and mentored knowwho they are. In modeling, however, theindividual being modeled might have noawareness of being viewed as a model byothers; the modeling nature or the relation-ship is informal and often hidden.

Furthermore, although research hasrevealed some of the characteristics and beha-viors of mentors that help people to identify

with them – competence, attractiveness,respect, understanding, stability, rewardpower, among others – we should not assumethat role modeling works the same way, northat role modeling of ethics might not havesome unique features of its own. Thus, it isimportant to understand how ethical rolemodeling works on a daily basis, among allranks of employees, if we are to deal well withethics in ways that go beyond typical top-down initiatives.

ETHICAL ROLE MODELING:MANAGERS’ PERSPECTIVES

To better understand ethical role modeling,we conducted in-depth, face-to-face inter-views with experienced managers or profes-sionals from a variety of organizationalbackgrounds. Our goal in this qualitativestudy was to map out the range of behaviorsand characteristics that are potentially rele-vant to the process of ethical role modeling.Such knowledge, in turn, can be relevant toimportant matters such as selecting indivi-duals for leadership positions in an organi-zation, and in more general tasks of trainingand developing managers to be people thatothers will view as ethical role models.

Research Part ic ipants

Our 20 interviewees represented a range oforganizations, including large and smallcompanies, for-profit and non-profit, andindustries including media, medical, realestate, industrial products, government,and the military. Participants ranged in agefrom 27 to 50. The interview participantswere recruited because they had experiencewith an ethical role model at work and werewilling to discuss that experience; we learnedof this experience because all of them, at onetime or another, had been students in ourexecutive M.B.A. or regular M.B.A. classes.

In a structured interview, we asked open-ended questions covering basic demographicinformation, the participants’ relationshipsto their ethical role models, the characteris-

tics and behaviors of the role models thataccounted for being viewed as ethical rolemodels, any faults or deficiencies of the rolemodels, and questions about how the rolemodels were viewed by others. All partici-pants were promised confidentiality. In addi-tion, we informed them that they were free tochange names or other identifying informa-tion because we were only interested in thenature of ethical role modeling, and did notneed to be able to link comments to particularpeople or organizations.

Each interview lasted about one hour, andwas audio taped (with the interviewees’ per-mission). The recorded interviews then weretranscribed and the transcripts were system-atically content analyzed following standardqualitative research methods. Interview frag-ments singled out at this stage ranged fromas short as a single word (as when the inter-viewee offered an adjective such as ‘‘honest’’to characterize the role model) to as long as afull page of single-spaced text (as in the caseof a lengthy description of some incidentcritical to modeling ethical behavior). Theseindividual fragments then were organizedaccording to emerging common themes(Table 1). These themes constitute the rangeof characteristics and behaviors implicated inthe practice of ethical role modeling.

Although not all ethical role models dis-played identical characteristics, four cate-gories of attitudes and behaviors emergedfrom the interviews – interpersonal beha-viors, ethical action and expectations for self,fairness with others, and articulating ethicalstandards – along with a related foundationof contextual factors relevant to identifyingsomeone as an ethical role model.

ETHICAL ROLE MODELS’EVERYDAY INTERPERSONALBEHAVIORS

Interviewees cited a variety of interpersonalbehaviors typically displayed by ethical rolemodels. (All comments in quotation marksbelow are from the interviews we con-ducted.)

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TABLE 1 CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHICAL ROLE MODELS

Interpersonal behaviors Ethical action and expectations for selfCare, concern and compassion HonestySupports and takes responsibility for others TrustworthinessValues and maintains relationships IntegrityHardworking and helpful HumilityAccentuates the positive Holds self to high ethical standardsAccepts others’ failures Consistently ethical in public and private life

Self-sacrificialAccepts responsibility for, and open about,

own ethical failings

Fairness with others Articulating ethical standardsResources distributed equitably Uncompromising, consistent ethical visionOpen to and solicitous of input Communicates high ethical standardsEqual respect—never condescending,

even in disagreementsHolds others ethically accountable

Offers explanations of decisionsPuts ethics above personal/company interestsLong-term, multiple stakeholder perspective

Contextual foundationsFrequent interaction Respected by others Business success not essential

Care, Concern and Compassion

Ethical role models showed care, concernand compassion for people. Intervieweesdescribed their role models with adjectivessuch as ‘‘kind,’’ ‘‘caring,’’ and ‘‘altruistic,’’described incidents of helping others (eitherat work or in the larger community), andmade observations such as ‘‘he deals withyour needs first;’’ ‘‘he felt his function wasjust to help people;’’ ‘‘. . . he cares very deeplyabout the folks that work for him;’’ and ‘‘hewas very understanding about balancingyour personal and your professional life.’’

Supporting and TakingResponsibil i ty for Others

A number of respondents also cited theirethical role model’s willingness to stand bytheir side, to support and take responsibilityfor other people, especially at times whenthose people are being pressured or chal-lenged. Thus, one manager described howhis ethical role model ‘‘felt unbelievablyguilty’’ and ‘‘broke down and cried’’ becausehe had recruited the employees of a by thenfailing start-up company away from other,more stable employment. In another instance,a major customer wanted the ethical role


model (the interviewee’s boss) to blame asignificant problem on our interviewee. Buteven though ‘‘I could have seen him sym-pathizing with the customer at my expense,’’the boss in this case said ‘‘Look, Smith was notwrong, and I don’t care how many times wecarve this up, he’s not going to be wrong.’’Other examples of this kind of supportabound:

‘‘If somebody gives you trouble forit, the word is I told you to do it.’’

‘‘[He] always went to bat for hispeople.’’

‘‘[S]he supported me through thewhole process [of dealing with a dif-ficult client] and just kept saying,‘You know what is right, do what’sright.’’’

‘‘[S]he was there with me wheneverything hit the fan.’’

Valuing and MaintainingRelationships

Ethical role models also were described aspeople who valued and worked to maintainrelationships with others:

‘‘Even though he can disagree con-structively with everybody and fre-quently does, that doesn’t stoppeople from liking him. . . . [H]estrongly values relationships.’’

‘‘Unusually sensitive and connectedto people’’

‘‘[He] is a really good role modelbecause his people skills are so good’’

‘‘[My young daughter’s] commentafterward was ‘He’s such a niceman . . . and he made me feel realgood about me.’’’

In regard to relationships, ethical rolemodels sometimes were described as person-able: ‘‘he’s one of the folks you enjoy workingwith;’’ ‘‘. . . personable, down to earth . . .;’’‘‘he was just easy to work for, not real stress-ful;’’ ‘‘he had a good sense of humor.’’ It isimportant to note, however, that being anethical role model did not require either highlevels of extroversion or exquisite socialgrace. Some ethical role models were quiet,and others had ‘‘rough edges.’’ In short,being personable is not the same as beingcharismatic, gregarious, or smooth.

Hardworking and Helpful

Interviewees sometimes observed that theirethical role models had a significant positiveimpact on people because they pitched in,and were hardworking and helpful. As oneinterviewee described his ethical role model,‘‘He will get his job done, and he’ll get yourjob done too.’’ Such role models might havehigh expectations for others, but they alsoworked hard themselves, and offered help:‘‘There was no question as to what the expec-tations are, what you were going to beaccountable for. And if you needed assis-tance to get there, that was available.’’ Or:‘‘[H]e could have easily dumped it over tosomebody else to do, but he was the guy whowas in there all week with them, workingSaturdays and Sundays as well, in order to

make this deadline.’’ Sometimes the helpoffered by ethical role models would be phy-sically or emotionally hard, but other times itwould take the form of insightful decision-making help.

Accentuating the Posit ive

Ethical role models also were noted foraccentuating the positive. One interviewee,for example, described how his ethical rolemodel genuinely treated a $150,000 budget-ing error in positive terms as a ‘‘learningprocess.’’ Another noted how the ethical rolemodel would always ‘‘keep it in a positivelight.’’ Still another ethical role model madesure that ‘‘praise was always in public.’’Others did not just talk positively, but struc-tured situations to create positive outcomesfor others; for example, ‘‘encouraging jointprojects where people recognize the qualityof the work so that you have a success youcan point to.’’

Accepting Failure

Related to accentuating the positive is theacceptance of others’ failures. Intervieweeswho mentioned this felt free to come to theirethical role model with ‘‘bad news’’—a factorknown to contribute to an overall ethicalworkplace because budding problems donot get hidden for fear of upsetting the boss.

‘‘[H]e realizes that we all learn fromour mistakes. He lets people makemistakes, even when he knowsthey’re going to make a mistake.He allows them to do it.’’

‘‘[H]e was very quick to accept badnews.’’

‘‘[I]f you work for him you can go tohim and say, hey, we made a mistake.. . .’’

‘‘[S]he looked at me and pretty muchsaid, well, okay, these things hap-pen.’’

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ROLE MODELS’ ETHICALACTIONS ANDEXPECTATIONS FORTHEMSELVES

The foregoing interpersonal skills and traitswere not enough by themselves to distin-guish an ethical role model. After all, it islikely that our interviewees’ acquaintancesincluded many people who were personable,hardworking, positive in outlook, and car-ing. Thus, although good interpersonal skillsand commitments might be necessary forbeing an ethical role model, they are notsufficient. What else is needed? Ethical rolemodels act ethically, and have high ethicalexpectations for themselves.

Honesty, Trustworthiness , andIntegri ty

Our interviewees observed a variety of ethicalcommitments in their role models. Ethical rolemodels often were described as honest, even‘‘honest to a fault.’’ They also were seen astrustworthy, for example, ‘‘the most trust-worthy person I can imagine,’’ or as someonethat ‘‘everybody trusted.’’ One intervieweedescribed a military officer who, despite pres-sure from other officers to gossip about adisciplinary matter, ‘‘kept it to himself, know-ing that it would damage the reputation of theparticular officer involved.’’ These examplesof trustworthy interaction have an impact.Discussing a role model’s ability to maintainconfidences, one interviewee opined that ‘‘theway [the role model] handled business trans-actions that were fairly sensitive or highlyconfidential for me was a very good trainingground, [so that I would] say ‘Okay, these arethe things I would like to take with me once Ihave this type of responsibility or I have directreports.’’’

This sense of trustworthiness extendedbeyond keeping confidences to a more gen-eral sense that the role model would alwaysmake good on promises, and would behaveconsistently. For example, one intervieweeobserved the following about his role model;‘‘that consistent message, that consistent


behavior, I think, probably is the most impor-tant and telling . . . attribute. . . .’’ Otherscommented on how the ethical role model(for example) ‘‘follows through with what hecommits to.’’ Moreover, this kind of trust-worthiness or reliability extended from itemsof great import (e.g., the disciplinary matternoted above) to seemingly minor issues (e.g.,arriving for meetings at the promised time).

Along with honesty and trustworthinesscame integrity. One interviewee noted howhis ethical role model’s ‘‘integrity just kind ofcomes through everything he does.’’ Suchpeople have no ‘‘underlying agenda,’’ andwere ‘‘straight-shooting.’’

Humili ty

Humility also characterized a number of theethical role models: ‘‘Half the time, the peo-ple don’t realize he’s a senior vice president,on the board of directors. They think he’s justsome nice older guy.’’ On another occasion,an ethical role model – the company presi-dent – ended up in a discussion about hiscompany’s good and bad points with some-one at a baseball game, albeit without iden-tifying his status as president. The otherparty ‘‘paused and looked at [the president]and said, ‘What do you do for them?’ And[the president] just said, ‘I work on the thirdfloor.’ No need to trumpet about ‘I’m thepresident.’’’ Said of another ethical rolemodel: ‘‘He’s a very successful man. . . .[Y]et he has never flaunted his income.’’ Stillanother ethical role model’s lack of preten-sion was observed in his willingness to ‘‘begoofy’’ and ‘‘be dressed up as the Easterbunny.’’ Others cited their role models’self-deprecating humor.

High Standards for Self

In addition to displaying these general ethi-cal characteristics, ethical role models heldthemselves to high ethical standards. Oneinterviewee talked of how his ethical rolemodel had ‘‘fairly clear ethical boundaries,’’and others spoke of how their role models‘‘walked the talk’’ or ‘‘put ethics into action

more so than other people.’’ Another com-mented on the difference between talk andaction in making an ethical role model: ‘‘Itwas not that he stuck ethical principles on thewall of every office, but people could see thathe meant it.’’ Another interviewee observedhow his ethical role model had only achieved‘‘about 70 percent’’ of the career successavailable to him, because the role modelhad been unwilling to compromise his firmethical principles along the way.

Public–Private EthicalConsistency

Moreover, the practice of high ethical stan-dards applied to both ethical role models’public lives in the workplace and their perso-nal lives outside the workplace. In short, therewas ethical consistency between their publicand private lives. Speaking of an ethical rolemodel, one interviewee related that ‘‘I canlook at his personal life as well as his corporatelife, and he is the exact same level of consis-tency in both;’’ this role model was ethically‘‘uncompromising’’ both ‘‘in public and pri-vate life.’’

Another ethical role model ‘‘really wassquared away, as we say, in terms of havinghis ethical house in order, not just in his on-duty life but in his off-duty life too.’’ Andanother: ‘‘[W]hat I thought of him in a profes-sional life was exactly what he is in his perso-nal life.’’ Still another made this point bymeans of a contrast, comparing anotherhighly accomplished executive with his ethi-cal role model:

On the one hand, I admire a lot about[the other executive]. He’s very smart,he works hard, has a great reputa-tion. . . .There is a side of him, though,things in his marriage, [that] makesme nervous about him. . . . I have asense he is a little more of a phonyabout some things. . . . Take his per-sonal life away, he is a very impress-ive guy. Put it back in there, and yousort of say, there is something . . .Look at [my role model], though. A

great career, very successful with hispersonal life, great family life, verysuccessful. His family has needs; hesacrificed for those needs.

Self-Sacrifice

Self-sacrifice, in fact, was a theme that turnedup in multiple interviews, as though self-sacrificial behavior convinced people thattheir role models really meant what they saidabout ethics. Some of the sacrifices mightseem common enough, such as workingweekends on a project when ‘‘he could haveeasily dumped it over to somebody else todo.’’ Other sacrifices were more dramatic,and made an impact on our interviewees.In one case, an executive turned down theopportunity to be CEO of a Fortune 100 com-pany, and quit in order to care for a chroni-cally ill family member. Reflecting on this,the interviewee indicated that he thought thismade for ‘‘an exceptional person.’’

Another role model – a medical director ina medium-sized teaching hospital – wanted aparticularly promising medical residentplaced on the hospital’s faculty, despite thefact that the hospital had a hiring freeze due tolean financial times. ‘‘So he gave up his job andmoved on so this person could assume hisposition. . . . he was willing to sacrifice hisjob. . . .’’ The medical director instead took aposition as a staff physician at a public healthclinic in a poverty-stricken region. This wasnot a significant financial loss for the physi-cian, for he was a member of the religiousorder running the hospital and thus accus-tomed to giving away much of his salary (forexample, into a fund he set up to purchasemedicines for indigent patients). But it was amajor change in prestige, living arrangementsand daily comforts. And the impact on ourinterviewee (who was not a member of thereligious order) was clear: ‘‘I was impressed.’’

Taking Responsibil i ty forOne’s Own Fail ings

These ethical role models did not need to beperfect. Interviewees delineated a variety of

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flaws in their ethical role models: for exam-ple, sometimes being too direct or abrupt,impatient, procrastinating, uncharismatic, ornaıve. But when things went wrong, ethicalrole models were open about their failings,and accepted responsibility for them, evenencouraging others to point out their failings:‘‘I can tell him when I think he’s wrong.’’

In one case, the role model was someonewho, like many employees, was not at workevery day by the normal starting time. But onthe day the supervisor decided to clock peoplein, the role model happened to arrive on time.‘‘So when the roll call was done and [thesupervisor] was chastising other people,[the ethical role model] on his own said,‘‘Look, I also come late. This is the only timethat I have come on time. I’m just lucky.’’Others noted how their role models weretruthful with superiors, being willing to givetheir superiors bad news. When the rolemodel mentioned earlier was dealing withthe $150,000 budgeting error, our intervieweewas impressed because the role model ‘‘didn’ttry to hide it. He went right to his boss andexplained the whole thing.’’ In short, ethicalrole models were cited for being transparentabout their own ethical problems: ‘‘He mademe look at what were his mistakes. . . .’’

FAIRNESS WITH OTHERS

In the management research literature, fair-ness is characterized as a multi-dimensionalphenomenon, encompassing fairness in theoutcomes people receive (distributive fair-ness), fairness in the processes used to makedecisions about people (procedural fairness),decency and respect accorded people ininteractions (interactional fairness), and pro-vision of explanations for bad outcomes(informational fairness). Although some ofthe interviewees described their ethical rolemodels as being fair in general (e.g., a rolemodel who will ‘‘treat people fairly’’), manyresponses highlighted one or another of thesespecific aspects of fairness.

A few ethical role models were citedspecifically for being distributively fair in


their actions, seeing that resources were dis-tributed equitably, and that people receivedwhat they deserved. ‘‘He does try to balancesome funding issues when he can, so thatthere seems to be a more fair distribution offunds.’’

Accepting and Solici t ing Inputfrom Others

More commonly, though, intervieweesdescribed their role models in terms thatechoed the procedural justice idea of givingpeople voice. People described their ethicalrole models as being open to, and even soli-citing, input from others (a point related toour earlier discussion of ethical role models’openness to bad news). For example, oneindividual was singled out as an ethical rolemodel because of ‘‘the way he deals withpeople to make sure people get to have theirsay,’’ and was described as ‘‘a good listener.’’Others were described as having variousforms of ‘‘open door’’ policies; e.g., ‘‘Hewas always someone that you could readilycall no matter what time it was. . . .’’

And when open communication does nottake place, ethical role models might find outwhy and try to remedy the situation. Relatinghis own reluctance to discuss a difficult per-sonal problem with his ethical role model –despite the fact that the problem was affect-ing his work – one interviewee relayed hisrole model’s response: ‘‘‘Why didn’t you feellike you could come and talk to me about thiskind of stuff?’ That’s when he told me abouthis divorce. . . .’’ The impact? ‘‘When hestarted telling me, coupling that with the factthat I knew he was an ethical person and thatI trusted him, I really began to know this wasa leader for me. This was a guy I wanted to belike.’’

Treating Others with Respect

Even more strongly emphasized was respect-ful interaction, or interactional fairness. Thiskind of fair treatment took on a variety ofinfluential forms in the behavior of the inter-viewees’ ethical role models. Ethical role

models were respectful of others, treatingothers with equal respect and without con-descension, despite any differences in status.One interviewee described how his rolemodel treated people the same ‘‘irregardlessof their financial status or economic status, ortheir societal class level.’’ Another spoke ofhow his role model treated even the nightshift stockroom crew with respect. A hospitalmedical director role model was singled outbecause ‘‘he always took the time to talk topeople. . . . He didn’t care whether they werethe president of the hospital or the Governor,or if he was a patient who didn’t have any-thing.’’ Others were described as not beingcondescending: ‘‘Well, he’s not condescend-ing. He talks to you like we’re sitting down atthe table. He certainly doesn’t talk down toindividuals.’’

Respectful interaction extended to diffi-cult situations. Ethical role models weredescribed as maintaining their respectfulstance toward others despite disagreementor even needs to correct or chastise subordi-nates. They were, in effect, diplomatic. ‘‘Acouple of times I probably screwed some-thing up, and he got a little bit upset with me,and I walked out of the room thinking‘‘Whew, I’ll never want to do that again.’’But I felt just as tall walking out as I did whenI went in.’’ Describing an incident wherein anethical role model had to take authority for atask away from a poor performer, our inter-viewee observed that ‘‘he treated her with agreat deal of respect and preserved her dig-nity even though he was removing some-thing from her that she thought she wanted.’’

Explaining Decisions

Fair treatment also involved offering expla-nations for decisions (informational justice)rather than just handing them down. Forexample, one of our interviewees was onceturned down for a choice foreign assignment.Here’s how it played out:

Another incident that comes to mymind, as to why I thought he wasethical, was [when] I was one of the

last persons on this project to go outon a foreign assignment, and that isalways considered prestigious, and[a sign] that you have arrived. Any-body else, I’m sure, would have nottold me why I didn’t go. But [myethical role model] told me why Ididn’t go.

ARTICULATING ETHICALSTANDARDS FOR OTHERS

Finally, the ethical role models our intervie-wees described were characterized not onlyby high ethical standards in their own action,but also for articulating high ethical stan-dards for the people with whom they camein contact.

Consistent Ethical Vision

The ethical role models identified in ourstudy held to an ‘‘uncompromising,’’ consis-tent ethical vision or ‘‘mission.’’ ‘‘He wouldsay things that most people wouldn’t say,and he would speak the truth.’’ ‘‘You knewwhere she stood, and you knew when shecame back the next day she would still bestanding there.’’ ‘‘I didn’t see him compro-mise himself at all.’’ This uncompromisingquality about high standards showedthrough in different ways. For example, sup-pose ‘‘you’ve got option A and option B,and . . . option A is right and option B is lessright than option A, but is certainly legal andprobably somewhat ethical. He has the con-sistency to go with option A. A lot of com-panies won’t like hearing this; sometimesthat might mean foregoing the bottom line.’’

This ethical vision clearly encompassesmore than conventionality and appearances;one interviewee, for example, contrasted hisethical role model with another, less ethicalmanager who, ‘‘instead of necessarily doingsomething just because it is right or wrong . . .thinks of it as, ‘if I do this how will it appear ifit shows up on the New York Times tomorrowas a headline?’’’ Another ethical role modelwas directed ‘‘more towards what he

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believed in,’’ even to the detriment of careeradvancement within his company.

Communicate High Standards

Ethical role models clearly communicatedtheir high ethical standards to others. Dis-cussing his ethical role models, an intervie-wee recalled his initial employment periodin these words: ‘‘Right from the get-go theyjust said, we’re not going to tolerate that.’’Another noted how an ethical role model‘‘keeps emphasizing to me that if you seesomething that you’re uncomfortable with,you change it.’’ Another: ‘‘that’s what healways talked about: being fair, firm andconsistent.’’ Or: ‘‘he would constantly tellme . . . just tell me the truth.’’ And: ‘‘He hadthree rules that he lived by, which he trans-ferred to me.’’ And: ‘‘Now in the first meet-ing of all of the departments during the[first week of a new mayor’s administra-tion] . . . the first thing [the new chief ofstaff] said was ‘We’re going to be squeakyclean. Any problems you have, clean themup now.’’’

Hold Others Accountable

Not only did ethical role models communi-cate their ethical standards, they also heldtheir subordinates accountable to high ethi-cal standards. ‘‘I mean he called me on thecarpet for some things I was short in, and hewas right—and made me face up to some ofmy own shortcomings and deal with them . . .he was a second dad to me in manyrespects.’’ Another interviewee described aproblem he had created, and how his rolemodel ‘‘was honest with me about what theproblem was. He was also fair in that hewasn’t going to fix it for me. . . . I was giventhe opportunity to make my decision anddeal with the consequences.’’ Such high stan-dards, communication, and accountabilityhad a profound impact: ‘‘You saw an exam-ple where someone crossed that boundary,and he communicated that. Actually, thatencouraged me to think through my ownbottom line standards and stick up for them


at times, or insist on them, because I had asense of ‘This is a non-negotiable thing.’’’

Put Ethics Ahead of Interests

It is not merely the fact that someone clearlycommunicates an ethical vision that led theinterviewees to see someone as a role model.The content of that vision matters as well. Inparticular, ethical role models were seen asputting ethics above both personal and com-pany interests. They were not out for them-selves, and were willing to forego companygoals in order to do what is right. One rolemodel was ‘‘just not somebody who is out forpersonal gain. Clearly, clearly [he was] some-body with a mission type consciousness orsense of purpose, that if things work out finefor him, that’s great, but that is not thenumber one priority. . . .’’

Another: ‘‘Certainly, this was a gentlemanwith an idea in his head, and he wanted tomake a lot of money, but that wasn’t thenumber one priority.’’ Not even organiza-tional policies were necessarily inviolate forthe people identified as ethical role models. Inone case, the role model put ‘‘his duty as anattorney and a counselor at law, his ethicalduties, and his responsibility to his client,ahead of administrative rules’’ in his orga-nization. In another role model’s case, ‘‘hedoesn’t just look at the bottom line.’’

Long-Term, Multi -StakeholderPerspective

The ability to take an intelligent, long-termperspective that took in the concerns of mul-tiple stakeholders also characterized theseethical role models. What impressed oneinterviewee was his role model’s ‘‘ability tomaybe get a good grasp of the bigger pic-ture.’’ Others made similar observations:‘‘He has long-range thinking, so when youtell him he looks not only at the immediatesituation that you’re facing, he looks long-term and presents and poses questions,’’ or,‘‘He has the ability to quickly size up allstakeholders when he’s making his deci-sions.’’ Moreover, this ‘‘big picture’’ perspec-

tive sometimes was actively cultivated: ‘‘healways put his nose in other areas.’’ Anotherrole model was described as being able tomake ‘‘strategic decisions very quickly.’’

CONTEXTUALREQUIREMENTS FOR ETHICALROLE MODELS

Our interviews revealed several aspects ofthe organizational context that appear toinfluence whether a person is singled outby others as a role model for ethical behavior.

Frequent Interact ion

Among contextual factors, frequent personalinteraction seems crucial for someone to beviewed as an ethical role model by another.Only one of the 20 interviewees identified anethical role model who was more distant, andmost interviewees identified people theyworked with frequently or regularly, orhad some other kind of close relationshipto (e.g., a family member). Answering onequestion as to how his role model was dif-ferent, so that he singled out this person as arole model, one interviewee replied: ‘‘I hadthe opportunity to interact with him on adaily basis in relatively close confines. Ihad the chance to see that . . . the actionsmatched the verbal message.’’

There is an important lesson in this fororganizations that focus on executives asethical role models for their employees: effec-tive modeling will be harder to achieve if it isdone only by distant executives rather thanby rank-and-file managers and supervisors.When it comes to high-level executives, mostemployees don’t have the chance to see that‘‘the actions matched the verbal message.’’

Business Success not Essential

Business success also was not obviouslyessential to becoming an ethical role modelat work. We asked interviewees whethertheir role model’s business success had beena factor in singling that person out as an

ethical role model. Some answered this ques-tion affirmatively: ‘‘If he had not been suc-cessful, I would not have been compelled toview him as a leader; therefore, I would notput him up as an ethical role model for me.’’

But the majority made it clear that busi-ness success did not factor into their ten-dency to view someone as an ethical rolemodel. As one put it, ‘‘I was choosing anethical role model, not a business rolemodel.’’ And another observed how his ethi-cal role model – an attorney – did not mea-sure up well in terms of ‘‘pure legal talent –he’s the kind of guy you could probablyexploit in a court room. But when it comesto judging him ethically, or the impact hemade on me professionally, the importantstuff, whether or not he’s a good courtroomlawyer – he could be the worst in the world –would be absolutely irrelevant to me.’’ Stillanother responded to our question as towhether business success was important inidentifying his role model very bluntly: ‘‘No,because his business failed.’’

Respected by Others

The attitudes and actions of others alwayshave the potential to influence someone’sown attitudes and behavior. Thus, it is pos-sible that the interviewees were helped tosingle out someone as an ethical role modelby the fact that the role model was viewedpositively by others. In a majority of inter-views, this did seem to be the case. A numberof interviewees noted that their ethical rolemodel also seemed to serve as an ethical rolemodel for others, or, failing that, at least waswidely respected within their organization.‘‘Throughout the company, not just amonghis work group, he was known as havingvery strong people skills and having a lot ofintegrity. . . . When I first started in the com-pany, the rest of the sales team that reportedto him had nothing but good things to say. Itwas pretty much like everybody in the groupliked him, which is highly unusual.’’

One interviewee told us of the kinds ofthings co-workers said when his ethical rolemodel retired: ‘‘Thank you for being my

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mentor, or thank you for being an example.’’Another noted how people would speak ofhis ethical role model: ‘‘He’s a great guy, heworks hard, and we look up to him. And Ithink that says something when it’s comingfrom kids 18, 19, or 20 years old. And somaybe that’s had an impact on me. . . .’’

ETHICAL ROLE MODELING—NEW PERSPECTIVES

We learned that ethical role modeling abso-lutely does occur in organizations. Our inter-viewees clearly identified how their ownbehavior had been influenced by the exampleof their ethical role models. And our findingscast new light on some taken-for-grantedconceptions of role modeling and ethicalbehavior in organizations.

Ethical Role Modeling—A ‘‘Sideby Side’ ’ Phenomenon

Most striking is the fact that, with rare excep-tion, the ethical role models identified by theinterviewees were people with whom theinterviewees interacted frequently. Intervie-wees generally did not single out distantsenior executives on the basis of official pro-nouncements or highly-publicized actions.Rather, ethical role models are well knownby their daily conduct and interactions—theway they behave and the way they treat otherpeople.

Ethical role modeling, in the eyes of theinterviewees, involves showing care andconcern for people, and treating peoplerespectfully and fairly, working hard along-side others, communicating well with others(especially about ethics), and showing sup-port for and defending people. Those are notthe kinds of behaviors and attitudes thatlower-level employees are likely to experi-ence from the senior executives in their orga-nizations. Contact with senior executives islikely to be more formalized and moremediated. In short, important as it may beto have senior executives talk and behaveethically to set an ‘‘ethical tone,’’ it may be


pointless to tell them to function as ethicalrole models for the entire organization.

Instead, in addition to being ethical lea-ders who set the ethical tone for the orga-nization, they need to function as ethicalrole models for their direct reports andimmediate co-workers, who in turn mustdo the same for their direct reports andimmediate co-workers, and so on downthe line. The ethical influence of top execu-tives may not be so much through theirformal pronouncements as through a‘‘trickle down’’ effect—provided, of course,that senior executives make the effort to seethat the message that ‘‘trickles down’’ istruly representative of their presumablygood ethical intentions.

Thus, not only is the CEO the ‘‘chief ethicsofficer,’’ but every manager must be ‘‘chiefethics officer’’ in his or her particulardomain. In a sense, although ethical leader-ship can be a top-down phenomenon, ethicalrole modeling appears to be much more a‘‘side-by-side’’ phenomenon. Our ethicalrole models are people we work with closelyon a regular basis. Thus, organizations maybe misdirecting attention if they focus solelyon top executives as the people who setethical standards.

Ethical Role Modeling—BeyondEthical Leadership

Related to this insight is the fact that,although ethical role modeling is closelyrelated to ethical leadership, they are notthe same thing. At first glance, the similari-ties to ethical leadership are striking. Abouthalf of the categories that emerged from theethical role modeling interviews closelymatch those that emerged in a recent studyof executive ethical leadership. Ethical rolemodels exhibit behavior representing bothdimensions of ethical leadership identifiedin that research: the ‘‘moral person’’ and‘‘moral manager’’ dimensions. As ‘‘moralpersons,’’ they are individuals with whomthe interviewees identify. These role modelsshow care and concern for people – includingthe long-term interests of the broader com-

munity – and they are open to others’ input.They are fair, respectful, honest, trustworthy,and ethical in both their personal and profes-sional lives. As ‘‘moral managers,’’ they com-municate ethical standards and hold othersethically accountable.

But about half of the categories thatemerged in our study suggest that ethical rolemodels are also different from ethical leadersin some important ways that might reflect theclose working relationship that is required forsomeone to be viewed as an ethical role model.When people work closely together, theybecome aware of each other’s strengths andweaknesses. We learned that ethical role mod-els don’t hide their faults. Rather, they areopen about them. They apply ethical stan-dards to themselves with exceptionally highlevels of transparency and clear acceptance ofresponsibility for their own failures.

Willingness to Accept Failure

When ethical role models play a supervisoryrole (as most of those discussed above do),they accept failure from others. And, whenothers do fail, ethical role models emphasizethe positive and try to transform those fail-ures into important learning experiences.Interestingly, whereas executive ethical lea-ders use formal rewards and discipline tohold employees accountable to ethical stan-dards, our ethical role modeling interviewsrarely mentioned the use of the formalreward system. Executive ethical leaderssend important messages to the entire orga-nization by using the organization’s formalreward system to support ethical conduct.But, it appears that ethical role models holdothers accountable in a more interpersonalway, that probably only can work well whenpeople interact regularly. They communicatehigh standards, observe conduct, and coachtheir people when they fall short.

Attract ion Through QuietBehaviors

Finally, it is interesting to consider the modesof influence at work in the ethical role mod-

eling process. Effective observational learn-ing requires an attractive model with whomthe observer identifies, and behavior thatcaptures the observer’s attention. So, whatmakes role models attractive and how dothey gain others’ attention? Not by standing‘‘above’’ others in some way, and not bybeing highly successful business people.Although some of the ethical role modelsidentified in our study were quite successful,others were not outstanding in that sense.Instead, ethical role models are attractive toothers and garner their attention by beinghumble and hard-working, willing to pitch inand work along side others, even sacrificingtheir own interests for the interests of others.Although these would seem to be ‘‘quiet’’behaviors that would not garner much atten-tion, it is possible that they stand out in manywork settings because they are different frommore common self-interested and self-con-gratulatory behavior.

In order to be viewed as an ethical rolemodel, it appears to be important that onenot tout one’s own good ethics or one’s ownsuccess. Rather, the ethical role model islooked up to in part because she or he ishumble. So, companies that are serious aboutfostering ethical behavior may need to workhard to find out who the ethical role modelsare in their organizations. These are confi-dent, personable, and likable people whomodel ethical conduct, carefully coach theirpeople and do a good job. But, they do notnecessarily stand out in the usual ways thatfocus on high performance or highly visibleethical action or language.

Can Ethical Role Models beIdentified and Developed?

The last point has important implications forthinking about how organizations mightdevelop ethical role models. These indivi-duals clearly have a powerful impact onothers’ behavior. Our interviewees cited var-ious instances in which their thinking andbehavior were affected by the thinking andbehavior of their ethical role models. Butwhen asked if they saw themselves as ethical

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role models for others, only a few did: ‘‘I tryto set the example for others around me andlead by example.’’ Most were reluctant toidentify themselves as ethical role models.Even though they talked about emulatingtheir role models, they did not wish to talkabout themselves as role models for others, atleast not overtly. Thus, one interviewee –despite talking of how much he identifiedwith his role model – nevertheless deniedthat he now acts as he does in order toinfluence those around him; rather, it is ‘‘sim-ply something I believed in.’’ Another pre-ferred to view any ethical role modelinginfluence he had as ‘‘very informal,’’ andanother viewed his own role modeling assomething that ‘‘just happens implicitly’’.

Consequently, we face a bit of a paradox:ethical role modeling seems important as apositive influence on people, but some peo-ple do not want to adopt that role self-consciously, perhaps because doing sowould appear to conflict with the humilityrequired to be a true ethical role model. So,putting out a call for ethical role models atthe office would not likely surface a long listof volunteer ethical role models because theywould not put themselves on that type ofpedestal. In fact, such a call might turn up theself-congratulatory types who are not ethicalrole models at all. Organizations will need toinvent clever ways of identifying these veryinfluential individuals. For example, peersand subordinates could be asked to identifypeople who have played such a role in theirwork lives, and these ethical role modelscould be quietly praised with a letter in theirfiles that is used to make personnel decisions,but is not shared publicly.

Overt and explicit efforts to develop ethi-cal role models might be resisted, and somore subtle approaches should be tried. Per-haps the best way to become an ethical rolemodel is to have had an ethical role modeloneself—someone you want to be ‘‘just like’’and someone whose behavior you can emu-late. During supervisory or leadership train-ing (not ethics training), individuals can beasked to identify their own ethical role mod-els and to discuss what these individuals did


and the positive impact they had. Theywould not be explicitly asked to becomeethical role models themselves, but remind-ing them of their own positive experiencesmight influence them to engage in similarbehaviors with their people. Those who havenot had their own ethical role models wouldhear from those who did and learn what ispossible. The training would convey the mes-sage to supervisors that they are an impor-tant influence on the ethical conduct of theirpeople without ever labeling it ‘‘ethical rolemodeling.’’

Ethical Role Modeling andLeadership Development andPerformance at AmericanExpress

On the other hand, it may be possible to focusexplicitly on the ethical role modeling beha-viors we have identified as part of a strongethical culture. In such organizations, thesebehaviors should be expected of all leaders.For example, American Express incorporatesthese expectations in its leadership develop-ment practices. The company’s code of con-duct begins with a set of guiding principles.One of these is, ‘‘be an ethical role model.’’The code says,

Leaders, by virtue of their positionsof authority, must be ethical rolemodels for all employees. An impor-tant part of a leader’s responsibilityis to exhibit the highest standards ofintegrity in all dealings with fellowemployees, customers, suppliers andthe community at large. An equallyimportant responsibility is to obtainemployees’ commitment – anddevelop their ability – to make soundethical judgments. Leaders mustcommunicate the seriousness of thecompany’s expectations for ethicalconduct and their own personal sup-port of these expectations. Ethicalleadership includes both fostering awork environment that encouragesemployees to voice concerns or

otherwise seek assistance if facedwith potentially compromisingsituations, and supporting thosewho speak out. . . .

We all know that such formal statementscan ring hollow if not backed up by account-ability systems. The 360-degree performancemanagement process for senior leaders atAmerican Express identifies eight leadershipcompetencies. Half of these competenciesfocus on business leadership and half focuson effectively leading people, the team, andorganization. As part of the performancemanagement system, each competency iscarefully defined, and explicit examples ofhigh and poor performance are provided. Anumber of these competencies align closelywith the characteristics of ethical role modelsidentified in our research.

For example, in our study, we found thatethical role models care about their people,value and work to maintain relationshipswith others, and treat others fairly. In theAmerican Express performance managementsystem, under the ‘‘demonstrates personalexcellence’’ competency, high performanceincludes ‘‘treats others with respect atall times; is fair and objective.’’ Under the‘‘communicates effectively’’ competency,‘‘actively listens and incorporates input fromothers’’ exemplifies high performance. The‘‘builds and leverages relationship’’ compe-tency is defined in part as ‘‘creates teamworkwithin/across functions and business units,’’and ‘‘creates an environment where cross-team-working is effective both internallyand externally.’’ Under this competency, theleader is held accountable for ‘‘sharing criticalexpertise and knowledge to support partnersand colleagues.

Our interviewees also told us that theirethical role models accepted their own fail-ures and the failures of others. At AmericanExpress, ‘‘learns from mistakes and makeschanges’’ and ‘‘has realistic understandingof own strengths and developmentareas’’ exemplifies high performance while‘‘demonstrates limited awareness of owncapabilities—has no plan to address weak-

nesses . . ., ‘‘fails to learn from mistakes orprevious experiences’’ and ‘‘becomes de-motivated or defensive when presented withfeedback’’ represents poor performanceunder the ‘‘demonstrates personal excel-lence’’ competency.

Finally, we identified ethical action andexpectations for the self as key to ethical rolemodeling. ‘‘Acts with integrity’’ is a part of thedefinition of ‘‘demonstrates personal excel-lence’’ along with ‘‘exhibits courage . . . andinspires the trust of the team, is reliable andconsistent’’ ‘‘Breaks promises, is inconsistent,fails to show respect for others’’ exemplifiespoor performance. In addition, under com-municates effectively, a high performing lea-der ‘‘talks openly and honestly—says it as itis.’’ And, under demonstrates personal excel-lence, ‘‘inspires the trust of the team’’ char-acterizes high performance.

Incorporat ing Ethical RoleModeling in the PerformanceManagement System

The existence of a performance managementsystem like the one at American Expresssuggests that it is clearly possible to holdleaders accountable for ethical role modelingbehaviors. Companies can audit their perfor-mance management systems to determinewhether ethical role modeling behaviors(identified in this study) are being expectedof leaders and to add them if they are not.Obviously, to be successful, such a systemmust be aligned with other organizationalgoals and cultural systems and these ethicalrole modeling competencies must be given asmuch weight in promotion and compensa-tion decisions as other competencies andoutcomes such as financial performance.

At American Express, the competenciesare closely tied to the firm’s values, andtogether these drive a culture focused onresults for the medium and long-term (notjust the short-term) as well as the desire to bean employer of choice. The ethical role mod-eling expectations are reiterated in the firm’scode of conduct (which can be found on itsexternal website), and ratings of the related

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competencies are weighted substantially inpromotion and compensation decisions.Finally, the company is investing resourcesin providing leaders with the necessary skillsso that they can effectively fulfill the com-pany’s expectations.

ETHICAL ROLE MODELING: AKEY RESOURCE FOR ETHICALORGANIZATIONS

Our study moves us considerably towardunderstanding what it is about someone thatmakes that person an important, positiveinfluence on the ethical behavior of anotherat work. Ethical role models are ethical, car-ing and personable individuals who valuerelationships and treat people fairly. Theyhold themselves and others accountable tohigh ethical standards and put those aboveself or company interests. They are alsotransparent about their own failures andaccept the failures of others, turning thoseinto learning experiences when possible.Finally, they are humble, hard working,and will sacrifice themselves for others’ wel-fare.

When compared with executive ethicalleaders, ethical role models share many of thesame characteristics. But, they also differ in


some important ways. First, ethical role mod-els are on the organization’s front lines, inter-acting with employees on a regular basis.They influence others with a confident, butquiet strength and clarity that makes themattractive role models. Their humility andwillingness to sacrifice their own intereststo stand up for what’s right and stand byothers garners attention particularly in envir-onments where such behavior is not thenorm. Finally, they become ‘‘ethical coaches’’as they use their own and others’ inevitablemistakes as opportunities for teaching andlearning.

Clearly, ethical role models represent animportant means of encouraging ethical con-duct at work. But it is generally an informalmeans that operates below the organizationalradar screen. If organizations wish to harnessthis powerful process, they should do socarefully in order to preserve its integrity.We recommend that organizations incorpo-rate this new knowledge about ethical rolemodeling quietly into supervisory/leader-ship training and then more explicitly intotheir values, codes, and performance man-agement processes.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Empirical studies on the role of top manage-ment in setting the tone for ethics in organi-zations include G. R. Weaver, L. K. Trevino,and P. L. Cochran, ‘‘Corporate Ethics Pro-grams as Control Systems: Influences ofExecutive Commitment and EnvironmentalFactors,’’ Academy of Management Journal,1999, 42, 41–57; and the same authors’ ‘‘Inte-grated and Decoupled Corporate Social Per-formance: Management Values, ExternalPressures, and Corporate Ethics Practices,’’Academy of Management Journal, 1999, 42,539–552. For the specific behaviors relevantto the practice of ethical leadership in orga-nizations, see L. K. Trevino, M. Brown, andL. P. Hartman, ‘‘A Qualitative Investigationof Perceived Executive Ethical Leadership:Perceptions from Inside and Outside theExecutive Suite,’’ Human Relations, 2003,56, 5–37; L. K. Trevino, L. P. Hartman, andM. Brown, ‘‘Moral Person and Moral Man-ager: How Executives Develop a Reputationfor Ethical Leadership,’’ California Manage-ment Review, 2000, 42(4), 128–142, and M.Brown, L. K. Trevino, and D. Harrison,‘‘Ethical Leadership: A Social Learning Per-spective for Construct Development andTesting,’’ Organizational Behavior and HumanDecision Processes, 2005, 97, 117–134. Thedisconnect between top management pro-nouncements about ethics and organiza-tional life as experienced by lower levelemployees, is addressed in J. L. Badaraccoand A. P. Webb, ‘‘Business Ethics: A ViewFrom the Trenches,’’ California ManagementReview, 1995, 37(2), 8–28. The relative impor-tance of informal over formal efforts to fostergood business ethics is covered in L. K.Trevino, G. R. Weaver, D. G. Gibson, andB. L. Toffler, ‘‘Managing Ethics and LegalCompliance: What Hurts and What Works,’’

California Management Review, 1999, 41(2),131–151. The informal organizational pro-cesses by which well-meaning people endup acting unethically are explained in B. E.Ashforth and V. Anand, ‘‘The Normaliza-tion of Corruption in Organizations,’’ in R.M. Kramer and B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research inOrganizational Behavior, Vol. 25 (Oxford, UK:Elsevier Ltd., 2003, 1–52).

Role modeling in general is an aspect ofsocial learning, and social learning processesare discussed in depth by A. Bandura inSocial Foundations of Thought and Action,(Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986).The capacity of leaders to shape organiza-tions by modeling behavior is addressed in E.H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leader-ship (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992). Fac-tors relevant to effective mentoring arediscussed by K. E. Kram in Mentoring at Work(Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Com-pany, 1985), and by T. A. Scandura and R.E. Viator in ‘‘Mentoring in Public AccountingFirms: An Analysis of Mentor-Protege Rela-tionships, Mentoring Functions, and ProtegeTurnover Intentions,’’ Accounting, Organiza-tions and Society, 1993, 19, 717–734. D. E.Gibson reviews research on role modelingin ‘‘Role Models in Career Development:New Directions for Theory and Research,’’Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2004, 65, 134–156.

For more on our interview analysismethods, see M. B. Miles and M. A. Huber-man, Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook ofNew Methods (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1984).

Much has been written about fairnessand justice issues in organizations. Recentsummaries include J. Greenberg, TheQuest for Justice on the Job: Essays and Experi-ments (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996), J.

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Greenberg, ‘‘Managing Workplace Stress byPromoting Organizational Justice,’’ Organi-zational Dynamics, 2004, 33, 352–365; and G.R. Weaver and L. K. Trevino, ‘‘The Role of


Human Resources in Ethics/ComplianceManagement: A Fairness Perspective,’’Human Resource Management Review, 2001,11, 113–134.

Gary R. Weaver is a management faculty member at the University ofDelaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. He also iseditor-in-chief of Business Ethics Quarterly, the multidisciplinary scholarlyjournal of the Society for Business Ethics. With Linda Trevino, he is co-author of Managing Ethics in Business Organizations: Social ScientificPerspectives (Stanford University Press, 2003) (Tel.: +1 302 831 4568;e-mail: [email protected]).

Linda Klebe Trevino is a professor of organizational behavior and CookFellow in Business Ethics at Pennsylvania State University’s SmealCollege of Business Adminstration. Her research on ethical behavior andethical leadership in organizations has been published in a wide varietyof scholarly and practitioner journals, and she is co-author (withKatherine Nelson) of Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About Howto Do It Right (Wiley), and (with Gary Weaver) of Managing Ethics inBusiness Organizations: Social Scientific Perspective (Tel.: +1 814 865 2194;e-mail: [email protected]).

Bradley R. Agle is a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh’sKatz Graduate School of Business, and is director of the University’s DavidBerg Center for Ethics and Leadership. His research on business ethics,corporate stakeholders, and top management has appeared in a variety ofscholarly journals such as the Academy of Management Review and BusinessEthics Quarterly (Tel.: +1 412 648 1571; e-mail: [email protected]).

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