It’s perhaps fair to say that the rise in social media has made the behavior of firms and leaders, and the subsequent criticism of them, much more readily available, which as well as providing a welcome voice for previously under-represented groups, also encourages leaders to toe the line and act better. This can make the cost of ethical failure much higher than it would otherwise have been if unethical behavior was not flushed into the open.

There are also concerns, however, that this risk might also encourage more conservative behaviors and less risk-taking from leaders, which would ultimately harm creativity. Indeed, ethical leaders could be construed as those who always follow the rules and comply with company policies, with creatives those more inclined to bend rules and challenge norms.

Contrasting pressures

It can feel as though organizations face contrasting pressures to be both innovative and ethical, and research from the University of Melbourne looks at whether innovation and ethics are really zero sum or whether ethical leaders can also foster creativity.

The researchers quizzed 327 employees from across 55 different teams in South Korea. The organization regards creativity as crucial to its success. The supervisors from each team were asked to evaluate the usefulness and novelty of ideas generated by their teams, while the team members were also asked how ethical their leaders were.

The results suggest that ethical leaders can actually boost creativity among their team, due in no small part because they’re able to increase the emotional attachment team members have to their group.

Emotional attachment

For instance, the study found that ethical leaders can often serve as strong role models to their team, with the trust and integrity they exhibit helping the team to trust each other more.

What’s more, ethical leaders can also help team members to internalize ethical values, which can help to bring the team together under a common set of norms and values. This emotional attachment then underpins creativity because people felt more at ease with sharing ideas or criticizing their peers. Such a state also facilitated the exchange of knowledge and information within the team.

As such, the results suggest that leaders shouldn’t fear both setting nor expressing moral values in the case that they inhibit creativity, as when done well they can actually enhance creativity and strengthen bonds within the team.