Humility in Management

by

Angela Wallace, Amy Y. Ou, Brad Owens

• LAST REVIEWED: 01 March 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 27 September 2017
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0132

Introduction

Humility generally refers to traits or behaviors associated with the willingness to see oneself accurately, valuing others’ strengths and contributions, and being open for learning. The stream of research on humility in management involves studies of humble traits or behaviors at individual or collective levels and impacts of humility on individual, team, and organizational outcomes. Contributors to this subject draw on advancements in positive, applied, and social psychology, as well as business ethics, and have provided important insights for leadership, teamwork, and organizational effectiveness.

Reference Resources

Because humility is a relatively new field of study in the context of management, the reference resources for which to find information about this field of study are limited. The most common sources for information on humility in management are found in various academic journals. While there are no journals, to date, that are dedicated to publishing articles on humility in the context of management, those interested in obtaining the most recent information on this field of study should consider those academic journals dedicated to business ethics, management, applied psychology, or positive psychology. It is worth noting that Journal of Business Ethics contains a comparatively large number of articles on humility related to management. The articles that have been published in this journal, most of which are conceptual, explore humility’s positive impact on ethical business practices.

• Journal of Business Ethics. 1982–.

  Published biweekly by Springer; devoted to research covering ethical issues related to business.