An integrative ethical approach to leader favoritism

Abstract

Relationship building is one of the most important aspects of leadership; however, it can pose ethical challenges. Though particularistic treatment of employees by leaders, that is, leader favoritism, commonly occurs, it is conventionally regarded negatively as fairness norms require leaders to treat followers equally. In this conceptual study, we explore different views on leader favoritism based on different ethical principles. We develop an alternative to the conventional view and suggest that leader favoritism may not necessarily lead to negative outcomes when empathy-based favoritism is applied. In this vein, we recommend drawing on the ethical principles of a utilitarian approach by balancing particularism and universalism, which is also helpful to build organizational social capital. We contribute to leadership theory by developing an early concept of an integrative ethical approach to leader favoritism. | 91 YANG et Al.

The role of leader favoritism, unfairness, and employability in employee psychological withdrawal behavior

“…The current study offers myriad insights into how leader favoritism generated negative feelings of unfairness at work can be effectively managed in the hospitality industry to mitigate the occurrence of negative approaches to and behavior at work (i.e., withdrawal behaviors). As leadership favoritism is highly prevalent in contemporary organizations and across global borders (Iqbal & Ahmad, 2020; Li, 2016; Yang et al, 2021) and could harm organizational effectiveness (Jo & Lee, 2022; Koslowsky, 2009), hospitality management should recognize this negative phenomenon as one of the major problems at work. For this, management can regularly conduct open discussions, surveys, informal workgroup meetings or establish official hotlines to permit employees to voice concerns about whether their supervisors are practicing favoritism for necessary courses of action to reduce the leaders' unfavorable behaviors.…”

“…As the name suggests, other‐driven factors include unfavorable leader behavior, such as leader favoritism. Relationship building at work is one of the vital tenets of leadership to achieve organizational excellence (Bani‐Melhem et al, 2023; Yang et al, 2021). However, such effort can be marred by ethical challenges due to unequal power imbalances between a leader and the subordinate, which could affect how the latter is treated (Wang & Xiao, 2021; Yang et al, 2021).…”

“…Relationship building at work is one of the vital tenets of leadership to achieve organizational excellence (Bani‐Melhem et al, 2023; Yang et al, 2021). However, such effort can be marred by ethical challenges due to unequal power imbalances between a leader and the subordinate, which could affect how the latter is treated (Wang & Xiao, 2021; Yang et al, 2021). Poor treatment of employees has much been documented, anecdotally and empirically, and playing favorites among subordinates represents one such leader behavior.…”

“…Poor treatment of employees has much been documented, anecdotally and empirically, and playing favorites among subordinates represents one such leader behavior. As a form of unethical dysfunctional dimension of leadership (Abalkhail, 2022), favoritism implies a preferential subjective treatment where favored subordinates acquire tangible (e.g., career progress and financial incentives) and intangible resources (e.g., informational and emotional support) due to their personal ties with the leader and not based on their skills, knowledge, or abilities (Horak & Yang, 2018; Yang et al, 2021). A leader giving particularistic treatment is also likely to be indifferent toward the favored subordinates' errors and unproductive behaviors (Abalkhail, 2022; Li, 2016).…”

“…Leader favoritism is said to occur when followers perceive that their leader is closer to or more proactive toward certain employees within a work group (Chang & Cheng, 2018; Hsiung & Bolino, 2017), resulting in the favored employees receiving and/or tangible and intangible reward, including salary, support, task allocation, workload distribution, training, and promotion (Horak & Yang, 2018). Leader favoritism is prevalent in contemporary organizations, including hospitality organizations (Abubakar et al, 2017) and across national boundaries (Iqbal & Ahmad, 2020; Yang et al, 2021). Reinsch Jr and Gardner (2014) surveyed senior‐level internal promotion decisions in large US companies with over 1000 employees.…”