Group Ethical Voice

Interest in the important role that ethical leaders play in organizations has expanded in recent years because of several high-profile corporate ethical breakdowns and the increased responsibility placed upon corporate leaders as a result. In the present study, we introduce a new outcome of ethical leadership: group ethical voice. We further theorized and tested two mediating mechanisms linking ethical leadership with group ethical voice. Using two field studies and one experimental study, we found support for our assertion that ethical leadership was positively associated with group ethical voice. We also found support for most of our hypothesized mediating mechanisms (ethical culture and group ethical voice efficacy) linking ethical leadership with group ethical voice—except for the indirect effect of upper-level ethical leadership on group ethical voice via group ethical voice efficacy. We further found that group ethical voice positively influenced ethical performance (significant for the sales groups, marginally significant for the customer service groups). Contributions to both ethical leadership and voice literature are discussed along with the limitations of the current study and directions for future research.