Development of a Measure of Responsible Leadership

Business leaders face increasing scrutiny regarding the extent to which their actions and decisions are responsible. However, the leadership literature has only rarely considered the nature of responsible leadership, and to date, there has been little attempt to measure the phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to construct a measure of responsible leadership. We used three studies involving both self- and peer-ratings, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and the examination of a nomological network. Our findings suggest that responsible leadership can be conceived and measured in terms of a strategist orientation, whereby leaders consider how decisions pertaining to stakeholders help to achieve competitive advantage. We also identified a separate, integrator orientation whereby leaders recognize and balance the needs of legitimate stakeholders.