When Leaders Acknowledge Their Own Errors, Will Employees Follow Suit? A Social Learning Perspective

Kaili Zhang, Bin Zhao and Kui Yin ()
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Kaili Zhang: East China University of Science and Technology
Bin Zhao: Simon Fraser University
Kui Yin: University of Science and Technology

Journal of Business Ethics, 2024, vol. 189, issue 2, No 11, 403-421

Abstract: Abstract The literature on error sharing has focused on employees’ cost–benefit assessment to predict whether employees will disclose self-made errors. Our study advances this line of research by adopting a different theoretical lens and examining leaders’ role in promoting employee error sharing. Drawing primarily upon social learning theory, we expected that when team leaders openly talk about their own errors within teams, through their behavior, they would set an example for team members and encourage members’ error sharing with team leaders. Based on a sample of 353 employees within 95 teams, we found a positive link between leader error sharing and team member error sharing; in addition, we found that ethical leadership evaluation partially mediates this positive link. Moreover, we found that leader error sharing was positively related to the team error management climate, which moderated the relationship between ethical leadership evaluation and team member error sharing in such a way that the positive relationship becomes stronger under a higher error management climate. Our findings highlight the critical roles played by leaders in promoting employees’ error sharing.

Keywords: Error sharing; Ethical leadership; Team error management climate; Social learning theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05329-9

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