Too Much Or Too Little? The Effect of Frequency of Moral Communication On Perceptions of Leadership Ability

Authors:

Abstract: Leaders are increasingly expected to communicate their moral stances on social issues, and the extent to which they do so is an important predictor of how they are perceived by their employees. The present research examines the effects of leaders under- and over-communicating moral values on employees’ perceptions of their effectiveness. We found that leaders who are perceived to under-communicate moral values are perceived as weaker leaders because they are seen to lack moral character. On the contrary, leaders who are perceived to over-communicate moral values are perceived as weaker leaders because they present themselves as too moral, to the extent of being sanctimonious. Four studies (N = 1100) supported these predictions.

Track: MORAL

Keywords: moral, communication, leadership, frequency