Leader effectiveness and integrity: wishful thinking?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact that perceptions of integrity have on perceptions of leadership effectiveness in the context of leadership behaviors. Design/methodology/approach The paper used multi‐source feedback from top‐level public service managers, their direct reports, peers, and bosses to examine two aspects of the relationship between integrity and leadership. The paper used exploratory factor analysis to investigate what qualities different stakeholders – self, direct reports, peers, and bosses – associate with integrity. The paper then used the resulting integrity factor in a hierarchical regression analysis to examine if perceived integrity had a greater impact on perceived leadership effectiveness than leadership behaviors. Findings The paper shows an association between honesty and integrity for all stakeholder groups. Integrity has an impact above that of leadership behaviors on perceived effectiveness for managers and their peers but not for their direct reports and bosses. For bosses and direct reports, there is a significant relationship between being flexible and perceived effectiveness. Goal orientation is the leadership role that bosses most strongly associate with perceived effectiveness. Research limitations/implications The interpretation of integrity is left up to the respondents; the paper does not gather a more in‐depth understanding of what principles guide the respondents; the paper uses same‐source data to examine the associations among values, leadership roles, and effectiveness; and this research only provides a one‐time glimpse of how colleagues perceive their leaders' integrity and their personal effectiveness but does not link these to long‐term organizational effectiveness. Practical implications This research shows that what matters to bosses is that managers obtain results. Integrity adds to perceptions of effectiveness for managers themselves and their peers. For bosses and direct reports, flexibility is more important. Originality/value This paper articulates the perception of integrity in an organization, tests the axiom that integrity is an essential component of effective leadership, and provides empirical evidence on the role that perceptions of integrity has on the perceptions of leader effectiveness. Integrity may not be as strong as has been suggested.