The COVID-19 pandemic and the role of responsible leadership in health care: thinking beyond employee well-being and organisational sustainability

PURPOSE: The unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge ever for health-care organisations to find strategies to deal with their survival. The health-care employees are the frontline soldiers to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the conceptualisation of COVID-19 and its impact on health-care employees' well-being and their organisational sustainability. Extending the role of responsible leadership (RL), the purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-level conceptual model to overcome the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic and promote employee (e.g. workers, nurses and professionals) well-being and organisational sustainability. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: With a comprehensive literature review, this paper presents five testable propositions and highlights the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on employee well-being and organisational sustainability. FINDINGS: The proposed model counsels that organisations need to go beyond the simple application of strategic climate and should enable RL to protect and maintain employee well-being and organisational sustainability. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The proposed conceptual model is a step forward to not only explore future empirical research but also it will help the health-care policymakers to take responsible initiatives to increase employee well-being and uphold organisational sustainability. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: There is a lack of research regarding the conceptualisation of the COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on health-care employees' well-being and organisational sustainability. The proposed conceptual model opens and guides a novel research avenue for the alignment of strategic management (as a moderator) and RL on the relationships among the COVID-19 pandemic, employee well-being and organisational sustainability.