A comprehensive model of moral development must encompass moral sensitivity, moral reasoning, moral motivation, and moral character. Western models of moral development have often failed to show validity outside the culture of their origin. We propose Karma-Yoga, the technique of intelligent action discussed in the Bhagawad Gita as an Indian model for moral development. Karma-Yoga is conceptualized as made up of three dimensions viz. duty-orientation, indifference to rewards, and equanimity. Based on survey results from 459 respondents from two large Indian (...) organizations, we show that the dimensions of Karma-Yoga are related to moral sensitivity, moral motivation, and moral character. (shrink)

This article validates James MacGregor Burns’ hypothesis that moral development is a critical qualification of transformational leaders. In India, morality is conceptualized as Karma-Yoga, a technique for performing actions such that the soul is not bound by the results of the actions. Karma-Yoga has three dimensions—duty-orientation, indifference to rewards, and equanimity—and constitutes a comprehensive model for moral development in the Indian context. We studied 205 leader–follower pairs to investigate the impact of a leader’s Karma-Yoga and a follower’s belief in Indian (...) philosophy on the follower’s perception of transformational leadership. We found that a leader’s duty-orientation was related to a leader’s charisma and inspirational motivation. The relationship was strengthened when a follower’s belief in Indian philosophy was high. The findings support a model of Indian transformational leadership built on the fundamental beliefs in Indian philosophy and duty-orientation. (shrink)

Gunas personality framework is an inclusive and comprehensive personality framework. Every human being is composed of three gunas or fundamental elements —sattva (intelligence-stuff), rajas (energy-stuff), and tamas (mass-stuff). Some of the prior measures of gunas do not fully capture the content of this variable, and some are not suitable for contemporary use. We conceptualize gunas in terms of an individual’s attitude towards social issues and have developed a new measure of gunas. We have demonstrated the concurrent and predictive validity of (...) the measure through a study of two samples of 60 executives and 356 MBA students. We show that sattva predicts performance, rajas predicts effort, and tamas is positively related to dispositional negativity. We show how the new gunas scale is a useful tool in contemporary times. (shrink)

Love (in the agape form) forms the foundation of most leadership concepts and has been ignored in research. We respond to the debate on universal applicability of leadership forms by bringing followers into the spotlight through our examination of the interactive influence of loving (agape-based) and non-loving (non-agape-based) leadership styles and followers’ attachment dimensions (self-model and other-model) on follower outcomes. Two hundred and eighty-two business management students worked in teams on a task under the direction of leaders who demonstrated agape-based (...) behaviours and leaders who demonstrated non-agape-based behaviours in a laboratory experiment. Agape-based leadership was positively related with follower satisfaction with the leader, team commitment and perception of leaders’ effectiveness. Further, followers’ attachment dimensions (self- and other-model) moderated the relationship between agape-based leadership and follower work attitudes, such that the relationship was positive for followers with a negative self-model and for followers with a positive other-model, and the relationship was negative for followers with a negative other-model. We provide a practical set of tools for demonstrating agape leadership behaviours which are useful for educators and organizations. We suggest that leaders must alter their leadership style depending on their followers’ attachment dimensions. (shrink)

This article extends the knowledge on whistleblowing by studying the impact of two individual antecedents and two situational factors (ethical leadership...

In a study of 205 leader–follower pairs, we investigated the impact of the leader’s values and empathy on followers’ perception of transformational leadership and the effect of transformational leadership on followers’ values and empathy. The moderating effect of leader–follower relationship duration on the effect of transformational leadership on followers’ values and empathy was also investigated. We found that the leader’s values were related to transformational leadership and transformational leadership was related to followers’ values. Over time, the relationship between transformational leadership (...) and followers’ empathy and values became stronger. (shrink)