An Exploration of the Dimensions of Responsible Leadership for Telecom Organisations; a U.S. Territory Perspective

Rajamohan, Anne Niroshi

Abstract

Responsible leadership in a Stakeholder Society is understood as a socio-relational and ethical phenomenon that takes place in the social interaction that happens repeatedly. As against the traditional leader-follower (leader-subordinate) relationships, responsible leadership research focuses on the leader-stakeholder relationships, thus broadening the interactions and responsibilities of the leader across stakeholder groups both within and outside of the organisation. Stakeholder society is one that involves all stakeholders in the business, the community and the environment. Responsible leadership in a stakeholder society is evidenced as an emerging research topic especially within the recent two decades. Despite the progress in the research field, a significant need for strengthening leadership for business environments is evidenced in academic and professional research. The aim of this research is to explore the dimensions of responsible leadership in an interconnected stakeholder society with the objective to contribute to leadership knowledge and practice. This research is qualitative research. The methodological choice used for this research is qualitative mono-method with case study research strategy. With focus in the Telecommunications industry, a pilot study was carried out to test the research design. The research methods of this study consist of literature review of systematically scoped secondary data and qualitative content analysis of empirical data, collected through structured interviews from a sample participant group from within a telecommunication organization in a U.S. territory. A conceptual framework was developed from the systematic literature review and used in the case study. Leadership responsibilities are understood from four Challenge landscapes; Stakeholders, Ethics, Diversity, and doing Business in Society, all of which have to be responsibly approached by any individual who plays the role of a leader. Relational and Ethical dimensions are understood as two key dimensions of responsible leadership with Emotional Intelligence and Ethical Intelligence within the respective dimensions as key qualities that a leader shall possess to act and behave responsibly, in bringing together the stakeholders, to achieve a morally sound organisational vision. The research findings demonstrate responsible leadership with its relational and ethical dimensions as needed for sustainable telecom business environments. The research conclusion makes recommendation for the key constructs of Emotional Intelligence and Ethical Intelligence to be collectively called Integrated Relational Intelligence (iRI) and for iRI to form a significant basis of Responsible Leadership framework for business environments.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Online Publication Date: May 29, 2025
• Deposit Date: May 26, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2025
• Keywords: Responsible leadership; Stakeholder; Relationships; Emotional Intelligence; Ethical Intelligence
• Award Date: May 29, 2025