Ethically Grounded Charismatic Leadership

Charisma has long been praised as one of the best features that a leader could have to not only successfully inspire their employees but also be able to transform an organization through a shared vision. Although it has been widely regarded as a favorable leadership quality, prior research has also not fully explored the ethical foundations that determine whether its influence produces beneficial or destructive outcomes. With that duality in mind, this paper aims to conduct a literature review to examine the potential ethical issues within charismatic leadership theory moderated by the effect of ethical leadership. Drawing from the existing research on leadership and organizational behavior, we found that charisma, while powerful, is still very much morally neutral—its impact still strongly depends on the leader’s own ethical interest and their moral mindfulness. By integrating the results from both charismatic and ethical leadership studies, this review proposed the Ethically Grounded Charismatic Leadership (EGCL) model, highlighting that socially beneficial leadership arises only when charisma is framed by a strong ethical grounding. At the end, the author concluded with implications for leadership development, calling for further research on the nexus of charisma and ethics in contemporary organizations.