Ethical Leadership and Ethical Climate at Educational Organizations in Europe: Depicting the “Value” of Values

Abstract

Despite the immense amount of literature on ethical leadership and ethical climate, little is known about how ethical leadership characteristics are correlated with different dimensions of ethical climate. This study investigated the relationship between ethical leadership and ethical climate in European educational organizations. With a view to examine the influence of ethical leadership on moral and ethical outcomes and vice versa, multilevel analyses were conducted to test our research questions using a sample of 451 teachers at primary and secondary schools (gymnasium & lyceum) in Greece, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The results show that educational leaders in Europe attach a great importance to all dimensions of ethical climate while, they are perceived as having to a great extend almost all traits of ethical leadership. Moreover, data analysis reveals that ethical leadership traits are positively related to all ethical climate’s dimensions, except the instrumental ethical climate, which reveals a significant negative correlation with ethical leadership.