IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v178y2022i1d10.1007_s10551-021-04766-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sharing Strategic Decisions: CEO Humility, TMT Decentralization, and Ethical Culture

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Cortes-Mejia

    (Iowa State University)

  • Andres Felipe Cortes

    (Sacred Heart University)

  • Pol Herrmann

    (Iowa State University)

Abstract

Humility is increasingly recognized as an essential attribute for individuals at top management levels to build successful organizations. However, research on CEO humility has focused on how humble chief executive officers (CEOs) shape collective perceptions through their interactions and behaviors with other organizational members while overlooking CEOs’ critical role in making strategic decisions. We address this unexplored aspect of CEO humility by proposing that humble CEOs influence decision-making decentralization at the top management team (TMT) and subsequently promote an organizational ethical culture. Using a sample of CEOs and TMT members from 120 small- and medium-sized enterprises, we find strong support for our hypotheses. We discuss important implications for research on CEO humility and strategic leadership.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Cortes-Mejia & Andres Felipe Cortes & Pol Herrmann, 2022. "Sharing Strategic Decisions: CEO Humility, TMT Decentralization, and Ethical Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 241-260, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:178:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04766-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04766-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-021-04766-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-021-04766-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jianyun Tang & Mary Crossan & W. Glenn Rowe, 2011. "Dominant CEO, Deviant Strategy, and Extreme Performance: The Moderating Role of a Powerful Board," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7), pages 1479-1503, November.
    2. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Schminke, Marshall & Ambrose, Maureen L. & Neubaum, Donald O., 2005. "The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 135-151, July.
    4. Kathleen A. Farrell & Drew B. Winters, 2008. "An Analysis of Executive Compensation in Small Businesses," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, Summer.
    5. Patricia Pitcher & Anne D. Smith, 2001. "Top Management Team Heterogeneity: Personality, Power, and Proxies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Michael Lubatkin & Zeki Simsek & Yan Ling & John F. Veiga, 2006. "Ambidexterity and Performance in Small-to Medium-Sized Firms : The Pivotal Role of Top Management Team Behavioral Integration," Post-Print hal-02311781, HAL.
    7. Robert Stewart & Sabrina Volpone & Derek Avery & Patrick McKay, 2011. "You Support Diversity, But Are You Ethical? Examining the Interactive Effects of Diversity and Ethical Climate Perceptions on Turnover Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(4), pages 581-593, June.
    8. Alexandre Ardichvili & James Mitchell & Douglas Jondle, 2009. "Characteristics of Ethical Business Cultures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 445-451, April.
    9. Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks, 2009. "Top Management Team Diversity and Firm Performance: Moderators of Functional-Background and Locus-of-Control Diversity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 165-180, February.
    10. Jana Craft, 2013. "A Review of the Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 2004–2011," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 221-259, October.
    11. Chenting Su & Ronald K. Mitchell & M. Joseph Sirgy, 2007. "Enabling Guanxi Management in China: A Hierarchical Stakeholder Model of Effective Guanxi," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 301-319, March.
    12. Mueller, George C. & Barker III, Vincent L., 1997. "Upper Echelons and Board Characteristics of Turnaround and Nonturnaround Declining Firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 119-134, June.
    13. Silke Eisenbeiss & Daan Knippenberg & Clemens Fahrbach, 2015. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Analyzing the Relationship Between CEO Ethical Leadership and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 635-651, May.
    14. Gregory G. Dess & Richard B. Robinson, 1984. "Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately‐held firm and conglomerate business unit," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 265-273, July.
    15. Alexander S. Alexiev & Justin J. P. Jansen & Frans A. J. Van den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2010. "Top Management Team Advice Seeking and Exploratory Innovation: The Moderating Role of TMT Heterogeneity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7), pages 1343-1364, November.
    16. Alexandre Ardichvili & Douglas Jondle & Brenda Kowske & Edgard Cornachione & Jessica Li & Thomas Thakadipuram, 2012. "Ethical Cultures in Large Business Organizations in Brazil, Russia, India, and China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(4), pages 415-428, February.
    17. Dehlen, Tobias & Zellweger, Thomas & Kammerlander, Nadine & Halter, Frank, 2014. "The role of information asymmetry in the choice of entrepreneurial exit routes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 193-209.
    18. Oleg V. Petrenko & Federico Aime & Tessa Recendes & Jeffrey A. Chandler, 2019. "The case for humble expectations: CEO humility and market performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 1938-1964, December.
    19. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    20. Danny Miller & Jean-Marie Toulouse, 1986. "Chief Executive Personality and Corporate Strategy and Structure in Small Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1389-1409, November.
    21. Lu Jiao & Graeme Harrison & Maria Cadiz Dyball & Jinhua Chen, 2017. "CEO values, stakeholder culture, and stakeholder-based performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 875-899, December.
    22. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Joan Fontrodona, 2013. "Ethical Culture and Employee Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Person-Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 173-188, August.
    23. Julia Zhang & Randy Chiu & Liqun Wei, 2009. "Decision-Making Process of Internal Whistleblowing Behavior in China: Empirical Evidence and Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 25-41, April.
    24. Christophe Boone & Boris Lokshin & Hannes Guenter & René Belderbos, 2019. "Top management team nationality diversity, corporate entrepreneurship, and innovation in multinational firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 277-302, February.
    25. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas, 2014. "Ethical Culture, Ethical Intent, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Moderating and Mediating Role of Person–Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 95-108, March.
    26. Antonio Argandona, 2015. "Humility in Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 63-71, November.
    27. Qing Cao & Zeki Simsek & Hongping Zhang, 2010. "Modelling the Joint Impact of the CEO and the TMT on Organizational Ambidexterity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7), pages 1272-1296, November.
    28. Dennis Moberg & David Caldwell, 2007. "An Exploratory Investigation of the Effect of Ethical Culture in Activating Moral Imagination," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 193-204, June.
    29. James Westerman & Rafik Beekun & Yvonne Stedham & Jeanne Yamamura, 2007. "Peers Versus National Culture: An Analysis of Antecedents to Ethical Decision-making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 239-252, October.
    30. Robert Stewart, 2011. "You Support Diversity, But Are You Ethical? Examining the Interactive Effects of Diversity and Ethical Climate Perceptions on Turnover Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(3), pages 453-465, March.
    31. Long-Zeng Wu & Ho Kwan & Frederick Yim & Randy Chiu & Xiaogang He, 2015. "CEO Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Moderated Mediation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 819-831, September.
    32. Smith, Anne & Houghton, Susan M. & Hood, Jacqueline N. & Ryman, Joel A., 2006. "Power relationships among top managers: Does top management team power distribution matter for organizational performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(5), pages 622-629, May.
    33. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Weaver, Gary R., 2001. "Organizational Justice and Ethics Program “Follow-Through†: Influences on Employees’ Harmful and Helpful Behavior," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 651-671, October.
    34. Paul Collins & Alan Doig & Werner Nicholaas Webb, 2012. "Ethical Culture And The Value‐Based Approach To Integrity Management: A Case Study Of The Department Of Correctional Services," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(1), pages 96-108, February.
    35. Koryak, Oksana & Lockett, Andy & Hayton, James & Nicolaou, Nicos & Mole, Kevin, 2018. "Disentangling the antecedents of ambidexterity: Exploration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 413-427.
    36. Bradley P. Owens & Michael D. Johnson & Terence R. Mitchell, 2013. "Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1517-1538, October.
    37. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Butterfield, Kenneth D. & McCabe, Donald L., 1998. "The Ethical Context in Organizations: Influences on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 447-476, July.
    38. Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor & George Ofori, 2009. "Ethical Leadership: Examining the Relationships with Full Range Leadership Model, Employee Outcomes, and Organizational Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 533-547, December.
    39. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2012. "Capabilities, Proactive CSR and Financial Performance in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from an Australian Manufacturing Industry Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 483-500, September.
    40. Kammerlander, Nadine & Burger, Dominik & Fust, Alexander & Fueglistaller, Urs, 2015. "Exploration and exploitation in established small and medium-sized enterprises: The effect of CEOs' regulatory focus," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 582-602.
    41. Breda Sweeney & Don Arnold & Bernard Pierce, 2010. "The Impact of Perceived Ethical Culture of the Firm and Demographic Variables on Auditors’ Ethical Evaluation and Intention to Act Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 531-551, June.
    42. Robert Stewart, 2011. "Erratum to: You Support Diversity, But Are You Ethical? Examining the Interactive Effects of Diversity and Ethical Climate Perceptions on Turnover Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(4), pages 717-717, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shepherd, Dean A. & Breugst, Nicola & Patzelt, Holger, 2023. "A founding-team model of creating a venture's culture," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    2. Zhang, Wei & Qin, Chu & Zhang, Wenyao, 2023. "Top management team characteristics, technological innovation and firm's greenwashing: Evidence from China's heavy-polluting industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guillem C. Cabana & Muel Kaptein, 2021. "Team Ethical Cultures Within an Organization: A Differentiation Perspective on Their Existence and Relevance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 761-780, May.
    2. Yan Ling & Michelle Hammond & Li-Qun Wei, 2022. "Ethical leadership and ambidexterity in young firms: examining the CEO-TMT Interface," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 25-48, March.
    3. Christopher Kurzhals & Lorenz Graf‐Vlachy & Andreas König, 2020. "Strategic leadership and technological innovation: A comprehensive review and research agenda," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 437-464, November.
    4. Juliana Toro-Arias & Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & María Pilar Rodríguez-Córdoba, 2022. "Measuring Ethical Organizational Culture: Validation of the Spanish Version of the Shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 551-574, March.
    5. Sebastian Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2017. "The Relationship Between Informal Controls, Ethical Work Climates, and Organizational Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 505-528, March.
    6. Tabea Franziska Hirth-Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Management accountants and ethical dilemmas: How to promote ethical intention?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 287-322, October.
    7. Yau-De Wang & Conna Yang, 2016. "How Appealing are Monetary Rewards in the Workplace? A Study of Ethical Leadership, Love of Money, Happiness, and Turnover Intention," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1277-1290, December.
    8. Elizabeth Sheedy & Patrick Garcia & Denise Jepsen, 2021. "The Role of Risk Climate and Ethical Self-interest Climate in Predicting Unethical Pro-organisational Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 281-300, October.
    9. M. Guerci & Giovanni Radaelli & Elena Siletti & Stefano Cirella & A. Rami Shani, 2015. "The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices and Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Ethical Climates: An Employee Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 325-342, January.
    10. Andreea N. Kiss & Dirk Libaers & Pamela S. Barr & Tang Wang & Miles A. Zachary, 2020. "CEO cognitive flexibility, information search, and organizational ambidexterity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2200-2233, December.
    11. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.
    12. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Joan Fontrodona, 2013. "Ethical Culture and Employee Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Person-Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 173-188, August.
    13. Dan Wang & Taiwen Feng & Alan Lawton, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership with Firm Performance: A Multi-dimensional Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 95-109, September.
    14. Pascal Back & Andreas Bausch, 2019. "Not If, But How CEOs Affect Product Innovation: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(03), pages 1-52, May.
    15. Kaptein, S.P., 2007. "Developing and Testing a Measure for the Ethical Culture of Organizations: The Corporate Ethical Virtues Model," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-084-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    16. Wen-yeh Huang, 2018. "Influence of Transparency on Employees’ Ethical Judgments: A Case of Russia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(4), pages 1177-1189, November.
    17. Unai Arzubiaga & Amaia Maseda & Txomin Iturralde, 2019. "Exploratory and exploitative innovation in family businesses: the moderating role of the family firm image and family involvement in top management," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-31, February.
    18. Chu-Mei Liu & Chou-Kang Chiu, 2020. "Modeling turnover intention and job performance: the moderation of perceived benevolent climate," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 611-631, June.
    19. Jana L. Craft, 2018. "Common Thread: The Impact of Mission on Ethical Business Culture. A Case Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 127-145, April.
    20. Akanksha Bedi & Can M. Alpaslan & Sandy Green, 2016. "A Meta-analytic Review of Ethical Leadership Outcomes and Moderators," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 517-536, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:178:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04766-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.