Ethical Leadership and Sustainable Development: Pathways to Organizational and Societal Transformation | Chapter 6 | The Tapestry of Development: Weaving Ethics into a Sustainable Future

 

This study examines the relationship between ethical leadership and sustainable development, with a focus on how leadership characteristics and styles shape organisational sustainability outcomes. It emphasises the role of transparency, long-term vision, and stakeholder inclusivity in driving employee engagement with sustainability goals. Despite increasing global attention on sustainability, weak ethical leadership across industries continues to hinder meaningful progress. Challenges such as short-term profit orientation, greenwashing, disengaged workforces, and missed opportunities for innovation undermine the successful implementation of sustainable development initiatives. A systematic literature review was conducted, guided by a multi-theoretical framework integrating Social Learning Theory, Transformational Leadership Theory, Stakeholder Theory, and Virtue Ethics. Recent academic studies, organisational reports, and policy documents (2020–2025) were critically analysed to identify leadership characteristics, challenges, and strategies relevant to sustainability implementation. This research advances the understanding of ethical leadership as a catalyst for organisational and societal transformation. It offers a conceptual framework that links ethical leadership to employee motivation, organisational trust, and the achievement of sustainability goals, while also highlighting strategies for fostering ethical leadership in practice. The study finds that ethical leadership enhances organisational reputation, fosters employee commitment to sustainability, and builds trust among stakeholders. Transformational and servant leadership styles are particularly effective in motivating pro-sustainability behaviours. However, leaders face persistent tensions between economic performance and ethical responsibility, which often result in short-term compromises. Ethical leadership is essential for achieving sustainable development. By embedding ethical decision-making into organisational culture and aligning stakeholder interests, leaders can balance profitability with social and environmental responsibilities. The study underscores that fostering ethical leadership requires multi-level efforts across organisations, governments, and civil society to ensure a just and sustainable future.

 

 

Author(s) Details

 

John Motsamai Modise
Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/mono/978-93-88417-39-6/CH6

Corporate Social Responsibility and Value of Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria's Industrial Sector | Chapter 8 | New Advances in Business, Management and Economics Vol. 4

Background: Corporate performance is an indicator of the extent to which directors or managers of companies are carrying out their fiduciary duties of maximizing shareholders’ wealth while also engaging in other social activities. The global focus has now shifted to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, as the economic activities of corporate institutions significantly impact society and the environment.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to determine how corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices can influence the corporate performances of listed firms in the industrial goods producing sector of Nigeria and other developing countries.

Theoretical Framework: The enhancement of corporate value by CSR practices has become an interesting area of study for corporate managers and policymakers globally. The Stakeholder and Business Ethics theories were used for this study. However, it was primarily grounded in the Stakeholder Theory, proposed by Edward Freeman in 1984, to evaluate the influence of CSR on corporate value.

Methodology: The study uses the causal comparative research design and we purposively select a sample of four industrial goods firms from Nigeria’s listed manufacturing enterprises as of 31^st December 2021 based on their social responsibility relationships with society, employees and creditors. Nineteen years of secondary data were collected from the website of the Nigerian Exchange Group and the yearly financial reports of industrial goods-producing enterprises. These data have been analysed using the ordinary least squares panel data regression, fixed and random effects models, stationarity test, cross-section dependence test the Hausman test.

Findings: The results show that corporate giving, employee welfare packages and creditor days have significant positive effects on return on assets (a proxy of corporate performance) suggesting that the threat to profit-maximization is not caused by CSR but by illegitimate use of CSR by rent-seeking corporate managers.

Implications of this Research: The study helps in filling the gap in the literature and serves as a basis for the economic and social development of Nigeria, developed and other developing countries through a more legitimate CSR investment in corporate giving, employee welfare package and creditor settlement days. Moreover, this research established factors that may influence the corporate performances of Nigeria’s industrial goods-producing firms. The researchers used the outcomes of this research to conclude that CSR investments in corporate giving, employees’ welfare and settlement of creditors have significantly improved the corporate performances of listed industrial goods-producing firms in Nigeria.

Value: The value of the study is that evidence of CSR success in the industrial goods manufacturing sector has for the first time been established using a time scope of 19 years and a firm-year-observations of 228. This study supports the claim that CSR is not a threat to profit maximization since it has a strong relationship with corporate value.

 

Author (s) Details

 

William Smart Inyang
epartment of Accounting, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Efiong Eme Joel
Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Ije Ubana Ubi
Department of Business Management, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Eyo Itam Eyo
Department of Banking and Finance, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Oboh John Ogenyi
Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Inyang Ochi Inyang
Department of Accounting, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nabme/v4/3987

A Case Analysis on Enron; Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Accounting | Chapter 8 | New Innovations in Economics, Business and Management Vol.1

 The Enron scandal caused a Wall Street fraud crisis that shook the market to its core in 2001, immediately after the Asian crises of 1997-1998, the DotcomBubble, and 9/11. Since then, scandals such as those involving Lehman Brothers and WorldCom in 2007-2008, as well as the Great Recession, have surpassed it, however Enron remains one of the most major accounting fraud cases. Despite the fact that the financial sector had been highly regulated by the early 2000s, energy deregulation allowed corporations to speculate on future prices. At the height of the dotcom bubble, Enron was heralded as a star invention, but as the bubble broke, Enron's plan to build high-speed internet failed, and investors began to lose money. Furthermore, the financial losses of the activities were concealed by using market to market accounting rather than book value, as well as special purpose organisations to conceal debt. The root of the problem was shown to be a corporation with a poisonous corporate culture that prioritised officer salary over social responsibility, resulting in poor leadership. Is it feasible, then, that when money rises in a 'irrationally exuberant' era, ethical accounting methods, social responsibility, and ethics all become poorer goods? This study also speculates on the potential that ethics, social responsibility, and ethical accounting are inferior commodities, citing evidence from business cycles and financial crises.

Author(S) Details

Muhammad M. Rashid
University of Detroit Mercy, University of California, Davis, USA.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/NIEBM-V1/article/view/4385

Determination of CSR Value for Consumers: An Approach to Indian Perspectives | Chapter 7 | Modern Perspectives in Economics, Business and Management Vol. 3

 The purpose of this study was to learn about consumers' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR), to identify companies' activities that customers believe to be CSR, and to recognise the benefits that CSR provides to consumers. The study combines descriptive and explanatory research to report on what corporate social responsibility (CSR) means to customers and the value they obtain from it, based on 180 respondents. According to research, CSR provides consumers with social, emotional, and functional benefits. The study is equivocal, and whether CSR policy influences their purchasing decisions is debatable. Consumers, on the other hand, report another sort of value, egocentric value, which has to be validated in future research. Furthermore, five years after publication, the study implications examine new facets of CSR and consumer values, such as culture, economic situations, and industry norms, which merit additional exploration.

Author (S) Details

Anjali Panda
Faculty of Marketing, DAV School of Business Management, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, India.

Basanta Kumar
(Retd.)Department of Business Administration, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, India.

Brajaraj Mohanty
(Retd.)Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, India.

View Book :- https://stm.bookpi.org/MPEBM-V3/article/view/2447