Parenting as an Antecedent to Ethical Leadership: A Review of Literature

Abstract

The need for ethics and ethical leadership cannot be overemphasized in modern-day society. Individuals, organizations, communities, and nations at large have come to the realization that their long-term sustainability and progress are secure only when founded on ethical practices. In spite of the consensus regarding the need for ethical leadership, past studies have mainly focused on approaches to developing ethical leaders while these leaders are already in the positions of influence, disregarding that many factors could have come into play before a leader starts wielding influence that may result in their being ethical or unethical. This paper constitutes a review of the extant conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature and raises a number of issues that are a case for a new conceptual model related to the connection between parenting and ethical leadership. The new model advances that parenting is a major antecedent to ethical leadership. Further, the paper highlights that the effect of parenting on ethical leadership is through the mediating effects of morality development. In addition, environmental factors such as hereditary considerations, culture, peer influence, and education moderate the relationship between parenting and ethical leadership. Further, a number of the dimensions within environmental factors could also trace their origin to parenting as a construct in a self-repeating and cyclical fashion. Keywords: Parenting, Morality, Moral development, Ethics, Ethical Leadership

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