Bridging east and west: how business schools can develop responsible leader competencies

Business schools increasingly aim to develop responsible leaders and leadership, yet the literature on how to do this effectively remains limited. Furthermore, existing research is dominated by Western theories and cases, marginalizing non-Western insights for leadership development scholarship and practice. By engaging in construct infusion and integrating insights from Western constructive development theory and Eastern Vedanta philosophy, we diversify this literature to analyze how one business school in India (SPJIMR) develops responsible leadership and associated competencies through its unique pre-experience MBA curriculum. Utilizing an in-depth case study, we show that SPJIMR provided the “holding environment” and meaningful, disequilibrating experiences for students to change their schemas (mental models) and develop intrapersonal, interpersonal, and (the novel) societal competencies, all required for responsible leadership. We also posit the concept of an “internal environment”—the space for self-reflection and new ideas and perspectives necessary for schema changes and personal growth. Our development of the Responsible Leader and Leadership Development Model offers a roadmap to support business schools in developing students’ responsible leadership and to guide future research.