Becoming an ethical leader: The leader development journey of South African chartered accountants in business leadership

Abstract

South Africa suffers from corporate and political scandals that highlight the need for effective ethical leadership. Despite the urgency, existing research does not understand the lifelong process that develops Ethical Leaders. All the existing research has been done in Western contexts and with a focus on adulthood development. This study’s purpose was to explore the leader development stories of South African Chartered Accountant (CA) business leaders. This population have had common professional ethical training. The study followed a qualitative narrative enquiry approach, conducting interviews with seven CA business leaders. Narrative stories were compiled using the interviews and triangulation using secondary sources. The analysis was completed with the lens of the Leader Development through Experiential Windows Model. The findings of the study confirm the applicability of the model in the South African context. The findings show that ethical leader development begins early and is based on a foundation of parental, religious and cultural influences. Furthermore, role model and mentor relationships were identified as key mechanisms across multiple windows of development, rather than only impacting adolescence. This research contributes to the empirical understanding of Ethical Leadership and Leader development and offers practical insights for organisations seeking to identify and develop ethical leaders.