Underpinnings of social contributions: conceptualizing behavioral patterns among socially contributive leaders in India

Purpose This study aims to explore how some organizational leaders are making successful attempts toward making “social contributions” toward the underprivileged or needy stakeholders in the society. This study suggests empirical themes about behavioral patterns of such organizational leaders and illustrates the need to transcend erstwhile “avoid harm” socially responsible leadership. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected on 52 Indian organizational leaders and were analyzed following the guidelines of constructionist grounded theory. Findings Findings suggested that organizational leaders who facilitated some form of social contributions in the life of different stakeholders had “unconditional adherence to social contributions,” they were “pertinacious about going the extra mile” to facilitate social contributions and at times their “existence as an enthusiastically innovative change agent” also facilitated social contributions to the lives of different stakeholders. Social implications This study might initiate discussion around the behavioral patterns of organizational leaders who are attempting to make society a better place by leading or facilitating social contributions. Identified exemplary behavioral patterns might encourage more exploratory studies directed toward the identification of other forms of socially contributive leadership attributes. Originality/value Emphasis on investigating corporate social responsibility (CSR) from individual-level perspective advocated the importance of the psychological foundation of CSR. This study empirically identifies behavioral patterns that characterize organizational leaders who had a strong commitment to make social contributions to society. Patterns identified corresponded to cognitive and behavioral approaches of organizational leaders that were instrumental in actualizing social contributions to the Indian society.

Mentors that Matter: International Student Leadership Development and Mentor Roles

Leadership development has been identified as an important outcome of higher education in the United States. However, relatively few scholars have investigated leadership development outcomes of international students studying in U.S. postsecondary contexts. Using data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, the purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the role of mentors in fostering leadership development outcomes for international students. Results suggest that international students whose primary college mentor is a faculty member or a student affairs professional demonstrate higher levels of both socially responsible leadership capacity and leadership self-efficacy than those international students who identify their most significant mentor as another student.