Social cognitive theory

Philosophy

Social psychology

Moral development

PsycINFO

Social cognitive theory of morality

Humility

Moral psychology

Psychology

Moral disengagement

Political science

Epistemology

Morality

Prosocial behavior

MEDLINE

Journal of Applied Psychology

This study utilizes social-cognitive theory, humble leadership theory, and the behavioral ethics literature to theoretically develop the concept of leader moral humility and its effects on followers. Specifically, we propose a theoretical model wherein leader moral humility and follower implicit theories about morality interact to predict follower moral efficacy, which in turn increases follower prosocial behavior and decreases follower unethical behavior. We furthermore suggest that these effects are strongest when followers hold an incremental implicit theory of morality (i.e., believing that one's morality is malleable). We test and find support for our theoretical model using two multiwave studies with Eastern (Study 1) and Western (Study 2) samples. Furthermore, we demonstrate that leader moral humility predicts follower moral efficacy and moral behaviors above and beyond the effects of ethical leadership and leader general humility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The impact of leader moral humility on follower moral self-efficacy and behavior.