Claire Lapointe

Can ethics be learned?: Results from a three‐year action‐research project

Purpose – In response to the growing need for educational leaders who possess ethical, critical and reflective qualities, a training program was developed based on ethics as a reflective critical capacity and on Starratts three‐dimensional model. This paper aims to describe the impact of the program on ethical decision making and on educational leaders’ ethical competencies.Design/methodology/approach – A three‐year action‐research study was conducted with three groups of educational administrators, totalling 30 participants. Mixed methods were used for data collection: a pre‐ and post‐training questionnaire, individual semi‐structured interviews and group interviews. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS software and interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis.Findings – Results from the pre‐test indicate that, prior to the training program, participants rarely possessed all three ethical dimensions. Post‐test results show how participants experience a significant readjustment process...

Development and validity of the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire

Purpose – This study had five objectives: explain the initial steps that led to the construction of the Ethical Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ); analyze the items and verify the ELQ reliability using item response theory (IRT); examine its factorial structure with a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) approach; test the item bias of the ELQ; assess the relation between the ELQ dimensions and ethical sensitivity. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Study 1 and Study 2 involved 200 and 668 respondents, respectively. Step 1 consisted in IRT; Step 2 in CFA and ESEM analysis; Step 3 in invariance of the ELQ items across gender, and Step 4 in structural equation modeling. Findings – Results indicated the presence of the three types of ethic in the resolution of moral dilemmas, validating Starratts model. The factor structure was gender invariant. Ethic of critique was significantly related to ethical sensitivity. Research li...