Moorman presents research at Academy of Business Research Conference

The Frank S. Holt, Jr. Professor of Business Leadership presented a paper about the relationship between leader integrity and trust.

By Caroline Perry ’18

Robert Moorman, Frank S. Holt, Jr. Professor of Business Leadership in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, presented a paper at the 2017 Academy of Business Research conference on March 23 in New Orleans.

The paper, “The Relationship between Perceived Leader Integrity and Trust: Identifying Mechanisms Using Two Dimension Measures of Integrity and Trust,” discusses how using multidimensional measures of perceived leader integrity and trust may identify the different ways in which integrity and trust relate.

The study found support for two explanations for why leaders with integrity elicit follower trust. The first reason is that followers see integrity as a predictor of the leader’s reliability, which allows followers to confidently predict leader actions from leader pronouncements and promises. The second reason is that followers also view leaders with integrity as being grounded in an agreeable set of moral values. Followers come to trust the “goodness” of these leaders and believe that, even in times of great uncertainty, leaders with integrity will behave in ways that are just, respectful, inclusive, and kind.

Moorman co-authored the paper with Gerald Blakely, associate professor of management at West Virginia University, and Todd Darnold, associate professor of management at Creighton University.

The Academy of Business Research is an international society of scholars and practitioners who exchange ideas and collaborate in a conference setting.