The perception of ethical leadership in the Middle East -

Abstract

Ethical Leadership became one of the emerging topics in the business literature. Researchers rushed to study how ethical leadership became a new leadership style on its own. Studies have been made to identify the components of ethical leadership, what are the behaviors and characteristics that make an ethical leader. Most of the studies pertaining to ethical leadership were conducted in a Western context; roughly the Middle East context has been covered with almost a total absence of Lebanese context in particular. In this study we are assessing the perception of ethical leadership in Lebanese industries particularly. Nine different organizations headed by nine different leaders were approached, as agreed the names of both the organizations and their leaders will not be disclosed. Qualitative interviews have been conducted with the different participants to assess their perception of ethical leadership characteristics and behaviors and what makes an unethical leader. For further enrichment, gender stereotypes have been added to the interviews’ questions in the attempt of studying to what extent leadership in Lebanon is fair and ethical to both genders. In this paper ethical leadership was studied from leaders’ perspective solely, subordinates on the other hand and how they are affected by ethical leaders were not tackled. Data analysis was conducted by coding statements of the interviewees, grouping them per questions, creating categories and sub categories accordingly. The whole process was in the attempt of identifying emerging themes. Findings revealed that the perception of ethical leadership in Lebanese context is similar to the findings of the western context on the awareness and theoretical level. Nevertheless, there were no practical examples or evidence revealing the application of these mentioned theories. As for gender stereotypes, it is without any doubt an emerging case in the Middle Eastern culture, and statements from interviewees serve as evidence for the existence of; One, aware