IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/buseth/v32y2023i2p582-598.html

Ethical leadership in a complex environment: A case study on Nunavik health organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Geneviève Morin
  • David Talbot

Abstract

Despite being the primary homeland of Quebec's Inuit people, Nunavik's health care is typically planned and provided by non‐Inuit newcomers. This retrospective case study investigates the effects of ethical leadership on the Westernized local Nunavik health care system's cultural sensitivity to its disproportionately Inuit populations. An integrative framework is developed that considers the dimensions of ethical leadership and the omnibus and discrete dimensions of context. This study shows that some Nunavik health care managers seek to improve and adapt the system to the needs of their Inuit populations, while others do not. Unfortunately, the context restricts the former managers' ability to act consistently with their moral responsibilities and beliefs. Specifically, the findings show various institutional barriers to providing respectful and sensitive health care to Inuit. This study contributes to the scientific literature on ethical leadership by proposing an integrative conceptual framework. This framework illustrates how ethical leadership is inseparable from organizational context, identifying 16 contextual factors influencing managers' ethical behavior. Finally, three practical recommendations are proposed to highlight the omnibus and discrete context elements.

Suggested Citation

  • Geneviève Morin & David Talbot, 2023. "Ethical leadership in a complex environment: A case study on Nunavik health organizations," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 582-598, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:buseth:v:32:y:2023:i:2:p:582-598
    DOI: 10.1111/beer.12515
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12515
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/beer.12515?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward N. Gamble & Anne L. Christensen, 2022. "Two sides of the same personality coin: An opportunity to refocus (un)ethical analysis," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 589-600, April.
    2. George Bragues, 2006. "Seek the Good Life, not Money: The Aristotelian Approach to Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(4), pages 341-357, September.
    3. Sheldene Simola, 2007. "The Pragmatics of Care in Sustainable Global Enterprise," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(2), pages 131-147, August.
    4. Tarja Ketola, 2010. "Responsible leadership: Building blocks of individual, organizational and societal behavior," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 173-184, May.
    5. Qinxuan Gu & Thomas Tang & Wan Jiang, 2015. "Does Moral Leadership Enhance Employee Creativity? Employee Identification with Leader and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) in the Chinese Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 513-529, February.
    6. Cam Caldwell & Rolf Dixon, 2010. "Love, Forgiveness, and Trust: Critical Values of the Modern Leader," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 91-101, April.
    7. Sean R. Martin & Kyle J. Emich & Elizabeth J. McClean & Col. Todd Woodruff, 2022. "Keeping Teams Together: How Ethical Leadership Moderates the Effects of Performance on Team Efficacy and Social Integration," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 127-139, February.
    8. Raiswa Saha & Shashi & Roberto Cerchione & Rajwinder Singh & Richa Dahiya, 2020. "Effect of ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility on firm performance: A systematic review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 409-429, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Alan Lawton & Iliana Páez, 2015. "Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 639-649, September.
    2. Sikander Hussain & Xiongying Niu, 2019. "The Relationship between Ethical Leadership and Creativity: The Mediating role of Psychological Capital," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 3(4), pages 17-27.
    3. Argandoña, Antonio, 2015. "A Framework For The Analysis Of Spirituality At Work," IESE Research Papers D/1122, IESE Business School.
    4. Qamar Farooq & Jie Hao & Xuan Liu & Di Xiao & Yunhong Hao, 2020. "Social and environmental development: Fresh concepts and soft measures towards sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1796-1803, November.
    5. Islam, Muhammad Azizul & Deegan, Craig & Haque, Shamima, 2021. "Corporate human rights performance and moral power: A study of retail MNCs’ supply chains in Bangladesh," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Caterina Lorenzo-Molo & Zenon Udani, 2013. "Bringing Back the Essence of the “S” and “R” to CSR: Understanding the Limitations of the Merchant Trade and the White Man’s Burden," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 123-136, September.
    7. Lavanya Vijayasingham & Uma Jogulu & Pascale Allotey, 2018. "Enriching the Organizational Context of Chronic Illness Experience Through an Ethics of Care Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 29-40, November.
    8. André, Kévin, 2013. "Why Should Business Education Care About Care? Toward an Educare Perspective," ESSEC Working Papers WP1315, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    9. Adnan Khurshid & Javier Cifuentes‐Faura & Ying Hongbin & Sardar Fawad Saleem, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility in the era of government subsidies: A novel empirical perspective on market competitiveness," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 102-117, January.
    10. Rafael Morales-Sánchez & Carmen Cabello-Medina, 2013. "The Role of Four Universal Moral Competencies in Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(4), pages 717-734, September.
    11. Jana Hojnik & Mitja Ruzzier & Tatiana S. Manolova, 2020. "Sustainable development: Predictors of green consumerism in Slovenia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1695-1708, July.
    12. Stefano Clo' & Gianluca Iannucci & Alessandro Tampieri, 2024. "Emission permits and firms' environmental responsibility," Working Papers - Economics wp2024_06.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    13. André, Kévin, 2014. "La professionnalisation des relations de 'care' : le cas du métier de référent de parcours de santé à l'Association Française contre les Myopathies," ESSEC Working Papers WP1404, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    14. Christopher Winchester & Kelsey E. Medeiros, 2023. "In Bounds but Out of the Box: A Meta-Analysis Clarifying the Effect of Ethicality on Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 713-743, March.
    15. Muhammad Arshad & Ghulam Abid & Francoise Venezia Contreras Torres, 2021. "Impact of prosocial motivation on organizational citizenship behavior: the mediating role of ethical leadership and leader–member exchange," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 133-150, February.
    16. Brian R. Johnson & Eric Connolly & Timothy S. Carter, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility: the role of Fortune 100 companies in domestic and international natural disasters," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(6), pages 352-369, November.
    17. Moore, Alexander K. & Lewis, Joshua & Levine, Emma E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2023. "Benevolent friends and high integrity leaders: How preferences for benevolence and integrity change across relationships," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    18. Anastacia Mamabolo & Kerrin Myres & Gideon Pogrund, 2025. "SMEs’ Perspective on How Ethical Leadership Supports Community Engagement in Buyer–Supplier Power Asymmetric Relationships," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, February.
    19. Sana Mumtaz & Chris Rowley, 2020. "The relationship between leader–member exchange and employee outcomes: review of past themes and future potential," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 165-189, February.
    20. Jeff Everett & Constance Friesen & Dean Neu & Abu Shiraz Rahaman, 2018. "We Have Never Been Secular: Religious Identities, Duties, and Ethics in Audit Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1121-1142, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:buseth:v:32:y:2023:i:2:p:582-598. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26946424 .

    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.