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Moral foundations for responsible leadership at a time of crisis

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Abstract

This paper analyzes perceptions of responsible leadership in eight Asia-based firms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focal firms were a mixture of multinational corporations (MNCs), large-sized enterprises, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In all eight focal firms, we found that the responsible decision-making of leaders during the pandemic was perceived to be guided by five main moral principles. These comprised equity-based justice for employees, meeting employees’ basic needs, ethics of care for employees, concern for non-employee stakeholders, and interactional justice for employees. We developed a conceptual map of how these principles related to aspects of four ethics-oriented leadership theories. Our analysis also identified four types of responsible leadership policies and practices. These comprised prioritizing the health and safety of stakeholders, flexible work arrangements, meeting employees’ and customers’ special needs, and financial and psychological support for employees.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Notes

  1. It was mandated by the local authority for everyone to test their temperature before leaving home and no positive cases were found.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong

    Hamid Khurshid

  2. Department of Marketing, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T, Hong Kong

    Crystal Xinru Wu

  3. Department of Management, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T, Hong Kong

    Robin Stanley Snell

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Correspondence to Hamid Khurshid.

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Khurshid, H., Wu, C.X. & Snell, R.S. Moral foundations for responsible leadership at a time of crisis. Asian J Bus Ethics (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-024-00201-z

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