What Does It Mean to Be Responsible? Addressing the Missing Responsibility Dimension in Ethical Leadership Research

Leadership, 2015, online first. University of Zurich Chair of Foundations of Business Administration and Theories of the Firm.

48 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2014 Last revised: 9 Apr 2015

See all articles by Christian Voegtlin

Christian Voegtlin

ZHAW School of Management and Law; University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration; University of Zurich - Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology

Date Written: February 10, 2014

Abstract

This paper extends ethical leadership research by proposing a responsibility orientation for leaders. Responsible leadership is based on consideration of leaders as not isolated from the environment, as critically evaluating prevailing norms, as forward-looking, as sharing responsibility, and as aiming for collective problem solving. I show how adding such a responsibility orientation helps to address some remaining critical issues in ethical leadership research. Results from in-depth interviews with business and non-governmental organization representatives illustrate the practical relevance of thinking about responsibility and reveal challenges for responsible leadership. The article discusses important aspects of responsible leadership for the leader as a moral person and a moral manager. Among those, aspects for the moral person include being able to make informed ethical judgments about prevailing norms and rules, engaging in long-term thinking, communicating effectively with stakeholders, engaging in perspective taking, displaying moral courage, and aspiring to positive change. Furthermore, for the moral manager, responsible leadership means actively engaging stakeholders, encouraging participative decision making, and aiming for shared problem solving.

Keywords: ethical leadership, responsible leadership, social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, shared leadership

Suggested Citation

Voegtlin, Christian, What Does It Mean to Be Responsible? Addressing the Missing Responsibility Dimension in Ethical Leadership Research (February 10, 2014). Leadership, 2015, online first. University of Zurich Chair of Foundations of Business Administration and Theories of the Firm., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2390756 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2390756

Christian Voegtlin (Contact Author)

ZHAW School of Management and Law ( email )

St.-Georgen-Platz 2
Winterthur, 8401
Switzerland

University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration ( email )

Universitätsstr. 84
CH-8006 Zürich, 8006
Switzerland

University of Zurich - Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology ( email )

Plattenstrasse 14
Zürich, 8032
Switzerland

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
200
Abstract Views
2,124
Rank
274,837
PlumX Metrics