Leadership: Trustworthiness and Ethical Stewardship

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Leadership: Trustworthiness and Ethical Stewardship Anthony Owusu Ansah Northcentral University Abstract This paper discusses the correlation between the elements of leadership, trustworthiness and ethical stewardship. In this paper, evidence is presented to support a positive correlation between an organizational leader’s perceived behavior, ethical stewardship, and trustworthiness on his/her employees and the rest of the individuals in the organization. KEY WORDS: leadership, trustworthiness, ethical stewardship Introduction The problem to be investigated is the relationship that exists between leadership, trustworthiness and ethical stewardship in corporate organizations. In the global marketplace, the importance of understanding the relationships between leadership, leader’s trustworthiness, and the ethical duties implicit in the psychological contract have become increasingly important (Caldwell, Hayes and Long, 2010). Scholars and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the gap of trust between leaders and followers, which undermine employees’ commitment, impair wealth creation, and create increased transaction costs in organizations throughout the world (Caldwell et al., 2010). This indicates that leadership of a company needs to ensure that they develop an organizational culture that uses ethical stewardship to develop a sense of corporate trustworthiness among its various stakeholders so that it can enhance its sustainability in a highly competitive market. Leadership Behavior According to Gini (1998), ethical leaders are leaders who use their social power in their decisions, their own actions, and their influence on others in such a way that they act in the best interest of followers and not enact harm upon them by respecting the rights of all parties. Rather than focusing on the intent or motivation of ethical

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