Abstract:

Trends of organizational flattening and decentralization are challenging traditional theories and practices of organizational ethics and have given rise to employee-based moral authority as a new topic in organizational management. As an informal form of authority, moral authority transcends the limitations of formal authority in terms of hierarchy, direction, and scope, achieving an ethical reshaping effect that spans across hierarchies, directions, and boundaries. However, moral authority has not yet received sufficient attention in management studies. In response, this project constructs and tests a theory of moral authority based on the research framework of “concept construction-formation mechanisms-cross-level evolution-multi-level impacts.” Firstly, drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives and adhering to a standardized empirical research paradigm, this study conceptually defines “moral authority” and “moral authority team norming.” By clarifying the connotations, extensions, structures, and dimensional contents of these two concepts, the study develops corresponding conceptual models and structural frameworks and further designs matched measurement instruments. This conceptual construction and refinement, on the one hand, enhances the scientific rigor of existing research on moral authority by addressing prior limitations characterized by descriptive accounts, insufficient analytical reflection, and a lack of systematic empirical testing, thereby laying a theoretical foundation for subsequent scale development, model examination, and mechanism analysis. On the other hand, it fills a notable gap in organization morality research from an employee-centered perspective, attends to the broad influence of moral authority, and encourages “perspective taking” in future studies-re-examining organizational moral phenomena from employees’ emic viewpoints. Accordingly, the new concepts and research perspective advanced in this study provide an important starting point with substantial potential for theoretical innovation in organizational morality. Secondly, by tracing the full process through which moral authority forms and evolves, this study proposes a dynamic, multilevel theoretical framework encompassing “formation mechanisms-influence processes-cross-level generalization,” thereby compensating for the relatively singular view of authority sources and the comparatively partial explanations of effects under traditional formal power perspectives. On the one hand, from both individuals’ internal moral endowments and external moral behaviors, the study posits that key traits/capabilities-moral awareness, moral prioritization, moral complexity, and moral courage-facilitate the emergence of moral authority, underscoring diversity in source types and pluralism in generative mechanisms. On the other hand, the study explicates a three-stage mechanism through which moral authority shapes team members’ psychology and behavior at the micro level-social judgment, identification, and influence-and, by introducing the concept of “moral authority team generalization,” systematically illustrates how moral authority diffuses and generalizes to the team level and how it further exerts differentiated influences on higher levels and more diverse targets through team-generalization pathways. Together, these arguments offer a clearer and more comprehensive explanatory framework for understanding the internal and external sources, formation processes, effect mechanisms, and cross-level evolution of moral authority. Finally, centering on the derivative concept of “moral authority team generalization,” this study develops a system-level effects framework that connects micro, meso, and macro levels. Within this framework, it explicates the pathways and mechanisms through which team-level moral generalization influences actors across multiple levels (i.e., employees, teams, and organizations), thereby strengthening the logical bridge for understanding the cross-level impacts of moral authority in organizational contexts. Building on this, the study integrates team-level moral generalization effects with individual-level moral shaping processes and, with moral authority and moral authority team generalization as two theoretical anchors, moves beyond hierarchical boundaries and one-directional assumptions in traditional authority influence research. It delineates a longitudinal pathway in which moral authority emerges at the individual level, diffuses via team generalization, and produces differentiated impacts across employees, teams, and organizations, thereby more clearly demonstrating the comprehensive influence of moral authority in organizational ethical governance and its broader cascading effects. In sum, this study extends the field of organizational ethics in theoretical terms. Grounded in an employee emic perspective, the proposed moral authority theory shifts the analytical focus “downward” from leaders to moral authority among ordinary employees, transforming their role from a managed “object” to a moral “subject” who disseminates and leads ethical conduct. Practically, the theory resonates with the societal value orientation of promoting moral exemplars and provides organizations with an actionable theoretical lever for advancing spiritual civilization initiatives and ethical governance; related practices may help catalyze broader organizational improvement and change through small-scale, localized interventions.

Key words: moral authority, moral authority team norming, employee-centric, cross-level evolution, multilevel influence