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Reconciling Different Views on Responsible Leadership: A Rationality-Based Approach

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  • Christof Miska
  • Christian Hilbe
  • Susanne Mayer

Abstract

Business leaders are increasingly responsible for the societal and environmental impacts of their actions. Yet conceptual views on responsible leadership differ in their definitions and theoretical foundations. This study attempts to reconcile these diverse views and uncover the phenomenon from a business leader’s point of view. Based on rational egoism theory, this article proposes a formal mathematical model of responsible leadership that considers different types of incentives for stakeholder engagement. The analyses reveal that monetary and instrumental incentives are neither sufficient nor necessary for business leaders to consider societal and environmental stakeholder needs. Non-monetary and non-instrumental incentives, such as leaders’ values and authenticity, as well as their planning horizons, counterbalance pure monetary and instrumental orientations. The model in this article complements the growing body of research on responsible leadership by reconciling its various conceptual views and providing a foundation for future theory development and testing. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

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  • Christof Miska & Christian Hilbe & Susanne Mayer, 2014. "Reconciling Different Views on Responsible Leadership: A Rationality-Based Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 349-360, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:125:y:2014:i:2:p:349-360
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1923-8
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    Cited by:

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    2. Paul Shrivastava & Günter Schumacher & David Wasieleski & Marko Tasic, 2017. "Aesthetic Rationality in Organizations: Toward Developing a Sensibility for Sustainibility," Post-Print hal-01515126, HAL.
    3. Hui Lu & Weiting Xu & Shaohan Cai & Fang Yang & Qingqing Chen, 2022. "Does top management team responsible leadership help employees go green? The role of green human resource management and environmental felt‐responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 843-859, July.
    4. Juelin Yin & Anusorn Singhapakdi & Yunzhou Du, 2016. "Causes and moderators of corporate social responsibility in China: The influence of personal values and institutional logics," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(3), pages 226-254, July.
    5. Miska, Christof & Szőcs, Ilona & Schiffinger, Michael, 2018. "Culture’s effects on corporate sustainability practices: A multi-domain and multi-level view," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 263-279.
    6. Xinyue Zhang & Dian Li & Xintong Guo, 2022. "Antecedents of Responsible Leadership: Proactive and Passive Responsible Leadership Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Louis W. Fry & Eleftheria Egel, 2021. "Global Leadership for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, June.
    8. Mousa Mohamed, 2017. "Responsible Leadership and Organizational Commitment among Physicians: Can Inclusive Diversity Climate Enhance the Relationship?," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 103-141, June.
    9. Bilal Afsar & Ahsen Maqsoom & Asad Shahjehan & Sajjad Ahmad Afridi & Adnan Nawaz & Hassan Fazliani, 2020. "Responsible leadership and employee's proenvironmental behavior: The role of organizational commitment, green shared vision, and internal environmental locus of control," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 297-312, January.
    10. Jie He & Alastair M. Morrison & Hao Zhang, 2019. "Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Jinyu Hu & Yu Rong & Frances M. McKee-Ryan, 2022. "Fifty Shades of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Conceptual Synthesis via a Decision Frame Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Roger Leonard Burritt & Katherine Leanne Christ & Hussain Gulzar Rammal & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Multinational Enterprise Strategies for Addressing Sustainability: the Need for Consolidation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 389-410, June.
    13. Zurah Chepkoech Mohammed & Vincent Ngeno & Charles Lagat, 2019. "Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chain Practices, Organisation Culture on Firm Performance. A Mediation Approach," International Journal of Emerging Trends in Social Sciences, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 6(2), pages 34-45.
    14. Irina N. Tkachenko & Ivan A. Chechulin, 2024. "Crisis resilience assessment and management of public utility companies," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 131-159, April.
    15. K. V. James & R. G. Priyadarshini, 2021. "Responsible Leadership: A New Paradigm for Organizational Sustainability," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 46(4), pages 452-470, November.
    16. Said Id Bouichou & Lei Wang & Hafiz Muhammad Basit Feroz, 2022. "How corporate social responsibility perceptions affect employees’ positive behavior in the hospitality industry: moderating role of responsible leadership," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(2), pages 413-446, June.
    17. Jacqueline C. Wisler, 2018. "U.S. CEOs of SBUs in Luxury Goods Organizations: A Mixed Methods Comparison of Ethical Decision-Making Profiles," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 443-518, May.
    18. Xueting Jiang & Bogdan Prokopovych & Garett DiStefano, 2022. "Leveraging A Lenient Category in Practicing Responsible Leadership: A Case Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(2), pages 413-425, November.
    19. Jie He & Alastair M. Morrison & Hao Zhang, 2021. "Being sustainable: The three‐way interactive effects of CSR, green human resource management, and responsible leadership on employee green behavior and task performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 1043-1054, May.
    20. Muzhar Javed & Muhammad Amir Rashid & Ghulam Hussain & Hafiz Yasir Ali, 2020. "The effects of corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation and firm financial performance: Moderating role of responsible leadership," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1395-1409, May.
    21. Christof Miska & Mark E. Mendenhall, 2018. "Responsible Leadership: A Mapping of Extant Research and Future Directions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 117-134, March.

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