What is moral intensity and how does it affect ethical leadership?

Student answers may vary. A key situational determinant of ethical behavior is the moral intensity of the issue. Moral intensity refers to the saliency and strength of the issue, and for a leader it is determined by six factors: (1) the degree of consequences for others; (2) the probability that those consequences will occur; (3) whether the consequences will occur in the short-term or distant future; (4) the closeness (physical, social, cultural, and psychological) of the affected parties to the leader; (5) the extent to which the consequences are limited to only a few versus many individuals; and (6) the amount of agreement among others as to what the leader should do. Moral intensity has been shown to reduce a person's willingness to engage in questionable accounting practices, to increase the willingness to engage in whistleblowing behaviors, and to increase the amount of emotional exhaustion experienced after making the decision.