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A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation of Leader Virtues and Virtuous A CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF LEADER VIRTUES AND VIRTUOUS LEADERSHIP BY QI WANG B.S., M.B.A., M.H.R.M. A CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF LEADER VIRTUES AND VIRTUOUS LEADERSHIP By QI WANG, B.S., M.B.A., M.H.R.M. A Thesis Submitted to the Supervisory Committee in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Business Administration McMaster University © Copyright by Qi Wang, June 2011 i Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (2011) McMaster University (Management of OB and HR) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation of Leader Virtues and Virtuous Leadership AUTHOR: Qi Wang, B.S. (Dalian Railway Institute), M.B.A. (Jinan University), M.H.R.M. (York University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Rick D. Hackett NUMBER OF PAGES: xii, 210 ii Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR ABSTRACT The significance of the role of virtues in guiding people‟s behaviours has been extensively discussed in the ethics literature. In leadership research, however, the concept of virtues has not been systematically examined. In this thesis, I propose two concepts, leader virtues and virtuous leadership, positioning the former as antecedent to the latter. I then identify six cardinal leader virtues (i.e., courage, temperance, justice, prudence, humanity and truthfulness) and develop an 18-item scale to measure them. Furthermore, I propose and empirically test a virtues-based model of leadership. Based on a sample of 230 leader-follower dyads, I found that virtuous leadership associates positively with followers‟ perceptions of ethical leadership and leader effectiveness, and with follower ethical behaviours and in-role and extra-role performance as evaluated by leaders. Moreover, virtuous leadership positively predicts leader and follower self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. A discussion of the limitations to this research, applied implications of my findings, and future research directions conclude this thesis. iii Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation owes much to a number of people. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to them. First, I would like to express my genuine appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Rick D. Hackett. What I have learned from you is far beyond how to become an excellent scholar. Your modeling of the virtues of prudence, justice, truthfulness, temperance, and humanity has informed me how to be a virtuous person. I am also grateful to the other two members of my supervision committee, Drs. Aaron Schat and Catherine Connelly. Your thoughtful review comments and advice have led to significant improvement of my dissertation, and are beneficial to my future research in organizational behaviours as well. Sincere thanks are also due to Dr. Ronald E. Riggio for serving as the External Examiner, and to Dr. Joe McDermid for serving as Chair of the Examining Committee. Second, I want to thank Dr. Naresh Agarwal. You brought me into the doctoral program, and provided me continuous support during the course of my doctoral studies. I also want to thank Drs. Vishwanath Baba, Willi Wiesner, Isik Zeytinoglu, Kevin Tasa, Aaron Schat, Catherine Connelly, and Rick Hackett for your well-designed doctoral seminars, and to thank Carolyn Colwell and Lorraine Redford for your administrative assistance to my doctoral study. Sincere thanks are due to the other faculty members at the DeGroote School of Business, especially to Drs. Vishwanath Baba, John Medcof, Milena Head, Teal McAteer, iv Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR Jiaping Qiu, Glen Randall, Mahmut Parlar, David Barrow, Scott Paquette, Khaled Hassanein, George Steiner, Steve Howse, Narat Charupat, Devashish Pujari, Anthony Celani, as well as Mandeep Malik, Fouzia Khokhar, and Carolyn Capretta. When I was facing difficulties in collecting data for my dissertation, your unlimited support helped me achieve a record-high response rate in the end. Third, I would like to thank the following doctoral colleagues, Agata Mirowska, Bruce Martin, Behrouz Bakhtiari, Christa Austin, Hong Liu, Jianbo Qian, Li Zhao, Lorne Booker, Mustafa Canbolat, Rahman Khokhar, and Umar Butt, for your input in my first round of study, and to thank Huyu Wu, Virginia Zhang, and Tamer Ahmed for your help with my data collection. I am also grateful to those undergraduate and graduate students at the DeGroote School of Business who participated in my study. Finally, I am most grateful to my family members, my wife Yanhong Song, my daughter Songling Wang, and my son Lingfeng Wang. Your love and support are the original motives of my doctoral journey. v Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Research .......................................................................... 1 1.2. Research Objectives ...................................................................................... 4 1.3 Organization of the Thesis ............................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................. 6 2.1 Ethics Research .............................................................................................. 6 2.1.1. An Overview of Deontology, Teleology and Virtue Ethics................... 6 2.1.1.1 Deontology .................................................................................... 7 2.1.1.2 Teleology ...................................................................................... 8 2.1.1.3 Virtues Ethics ................................................................................ 9 2.1.2 A Comparative Analysis of Aristotelianism and Confucianism ........... 12 2.1.2.1 What Are Virtues? ...................................................................... 14 2.1.2.2 How Are Virtues Acquired? ....................................................... 17 2.1.2.3 In What Contexts Are Virtues Most Likely to Be Enacted? ....... 18 2.1.3 The Overlap between Aristotelian and Confucian Cardinal Virtues .... 19 2.1.3.1 Aristotelian Courage versus Confucian Yong (Courage), Ren (Humanity), Yi(Righteousness), and Li (The Rituals) ............. 20 2.1.3.2 Aristotelian Temperance and Proper Indignation versus Confucian Zhongyong (Moderation) ....................................... 20 2.1.3.3 Aristotelian Justice versus Confucian Yi (Righteousness) ......... 21 2.1.3.4 Aristotelian Prudence and Wisdom versus Confucian Zhi (Wisdom) and Ren (Humanity)................................................ 22 2.1.3.5 Aristotelian Truthfulness versus Confucian Xin (Truthfulness) . 23 2.1.3.6 Aristotelian Friendliness versus Confucian Ren (Humanity) ..... 23 2.1.3.7 Aristotelian Generosity and Magnificence versus Confucian Yi (Righteousness) ........................................................................ 24 vi Ph.D. Thesis – Q. Wang McMaster University – Management of OB and HR 2.1.3.8 Aristotelian Mildness versus Confucian Yi (righteousness) and Yong (Courage) ....................................................................... 24 2.1.3.9 Aristotelian Prone to Shame versus Confucian Yi (Righteousness) ........................................................................ 25 2.1.3.10 Confucian Li (The Rituals) ....................................................... 25 2.1.4 A Summary of Commonalities between Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Thoughts ................................................................................... 26 2.2 Leadership Research ................................................................................... 27 2.2.1 An Overview of Four Leadership Schools ............................................ 27 2.2.2 A Review of Seven Leadership Paradigms ........................................... 29 CHAPTER 3: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................ 31 3.1 Conceptualization of Leader Virtues ........................................................... 31 3.1.1 Definition of Leader Virtue .................................................................. 31 3.1.1.1 Leader virtue is a disposition or character trait of leaders .......... 32 3.1.1.2 Leader virtue is acquired through learning and continuous practice ..................................................................................... 34 3.1.1.3 Leader virtue is demonstrated through voluntary actions of leaders ...................................................................................... 34 3.1.1.4 Leader virtue is defined with regard to specific situations ......... 35 3.1.2 Six Cardinal Leader Virtues .................................................................. 36 3.1.2.1 Courage ....................................................................................... 39 3.1.2.2 Temperance ................................................................................. 40 3.1.2.3 Justice .......................................................................................... 41 3.1.2.4 Prudence ...................................................................................... 42 3.1.2.5 Humanity ..................................................................................... 43 3.1.2.6
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