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Journal Article 1: Plaisance, P. (2014, June). Virtue in media: The moral psychology of U.S. exemplars in news and public relations. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91, 308–325.

Abstract: This study contributes to an empirical basis for media ethics theorizing by constructing a moral psychology profile of exemplars in journalism and public relations. Drawing on theories and instruments from psychology, this inductive project assesses descriptive and inferential patterns of personality traits, moral-reasoning skills, ethical ideology, and perceived workplace ethical climate among twenty-four exemplars selected for professional and ethical leadership qualities. The emerging profile suggests clear “clustering” of personality traits and an overarching emphasis on notions of care and respect for others, professional duty, concern for harm, and proactive social engagement—all of which characterize higher stages of moral development.

Journal Article 2: Gang, W., In-Sue, O., Courtright, S., & Colbert, A. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36, 223–270.

Abstract: Although transformational leadership has been studied extensively, the magnitude of the relationship between transformational leadership and follower performance across criterion types and levels of analysis remains unclear. Based on 117 independent samples over 113 primary studies, the current meta-analytic study showed that transformational leadership was positively related to individual-level follower performance across criterion types, with a stronger relationship for contextual performance than for task performance across most study settings. In addition, transformational leadership was positively related to performance at the team and organization levels. Moreover, both meta-analytic regression and relative importance analyses consistently showed that transformational leadership had an augmentation effect over transactional leadership (contingent reward) in predicting individual-level contextual performance and team-level performance. Contrary to our expectation, however, no augmentation effect of transformational leadership over contingent reward was found in predicting individual-level task performance. Instead, contingent reward explained incremental variance in individual-level task performance beyond that explained by transformational leadership.