Table 3. Themes of the literature review...

Table 3.

Themes of the literature review

Level	Key areas	Details	Highlights of the findings	References
Antecedents
Micro level	Personality characteristics	Virtuousness, courage; care, justice conscientiousness, responsibility; honesty; integrity; trustworthiness; dark-triad personality traits	Machiavellianism encourages irresponsible behaviorsCourage and risk-taking are important for RLPositive personal characteristics are the antecedents of RLDisobeying orders could be aresponsible leader when facing unachievable tasks	Cameron (2011), Ketola (2012), Maak et al. (2016), Miska et al. (2013), Pingali (2016), Pless (2007), Pless et al. (2011), Sharr (2023), Tirmizi (2023), Üzüm and Özkan (2023), Veetikazhi et al. (2022); Witt and Stahl (2016); Zhang et al. (2022)
	Perception and orientation	Moral identity, perception of moral obligations, perceived social welfare orientation, fiduciary duty	There are positive relationships between value orientations (e.g. perception of moral obligations; perceived fiduciary duty to shareholders) and RL behaviors
	Intelligence	Emotional intelligence, systemic thinking; cultural intelligence, emotional awareness	Intercultural competence is vital for responsible leaders in the context of globalization
	Motivation	Motivational need systems (MNS) and moral motivation.	Motivational need systems and moral, motivational drivers motivate responsible behaviors
	Self-regulation	Personal self-actualization; self-oriented; goal setting; personal aspirations	Self-regulation factors are the driver of RL
	Knowledge, skills, and abilities	Learning reflexibility, empowerment, innovation, vision	Learning reflexibility is essential for RL developmentResponsible leaders should have the vision, engage in ongoing learning process waves of innovation
	Demographic characteristics	Gender	There are gender differences between character traits and challenges of RL in Myanmar between males and females
Meso level	Organizational culture	Organizational systems and culture	Organizational systems and culture should be transparent for RL development
Meso level	Business strategy and management	Business goal, HRM, organizational strategy, human resource development	Business goal difficulty encourages irresponsible behaviorsGood HRM could contribute to the development of RL
Macro level	Roles of stakeholders	mass media, local community pressure	Mass media, local pressure, policy and regulations are essential in forming the proactive and passive RL
	Legal system	policy and regulation
	National culture	Religion; ethnic culture, national culture ethos of the nation; governance	Macro context, including national culture, governance system and religion that can influence a leader’s propensity toward RL
Outcomes
Micro level	Commitment	Employee commitment; employee psychological contract	RL positively leads to employee commitment via a direct effect or a mediating or moderating effects of several individual and organizational factors like organizational identification, CSR or employee turnover intentions	Abbas et al. (2022); Akhtar et al. (2023); Ali et al. (2023); Chin et al. (2023); Coldwell et al. (2012); Doh et al. (2011); Javed et al. (2020b); Khan et al. (2025); Marques et al. (2023); Rao et al. (2022); Saleem and Malik (2022); Ur Rehman et al. (2023); Wang et al. (2023)
	Attitude	Employee support: work engagement	RL positively related to work engagement through the mediating effects of knowledge sharing or CSR
	Behaviors	Employee organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment; participative behaviors; knowledge sharing behaviors; unethical behaviors	RL positively influences good employees and negatively influences unethical behaviorsRL plays a role as the moderator or mediator that contributes to several relationships between organizational factors and employee behaviors
	Perception and orientation	Duty orientation: employee felt responsibility	RL positively related to duty orientation with the mediating effect of job satisfaction
	Emotion, feeling and well-being	Employee well-being, work-life balance, emotional well-being	RL positively related to emotional well-being and affective well-being at work
	Intention	Employee turnover intentions; whistleblowing intentions	RL is negatively associated with employee turnover intentions and positively related to employee whistleblowing intentions
	Performance	Employee sustainable performance, career success, creativity, task performance	RL directly influences positive employee performanceRL moderates the indirect influence of calling on employee creativity via career commitment
Meso level	Organizational performance	Financial performance, sustainable performance, ESG performance; organizational downsizing, firm innovation, safety performance	RL directly influences the positive firm’s financial performance and contributes to sustainable performance and organizational ESGRL moderates several relationships between organizational factors and sustainable organizational performance
	Corporate strategy	CSR activities	RL is a crucial driver of CSR activities, fostering strategic agility
	Corporate reputation	Firm reputation management	RL contributes positively to the firm’s reputation management during and post-crisis by providing a vision and direction for the future
	Organizational climate	Inclusive organizational climate; ethical climate	RL positively related to an inclusive organizational climate and ethical climate
	Organizational social capital	Organizational social capital	RL generates social capital, which contributes to the corporate sustainable (environmental, social and economic) performance
	Organization engagement	Organization’s engagement in high-involvement multi-stakeholder initiatives	RL contribute to organizational engagement in high-involvement multi-stakeholder initiatives for sustainable development
	Relationship management	Customer relationship performance; stakeholder conflict resolution	RL is positively associated with enhanced customer relationship performance and is crucial in resolving stakeholder conflict
Macro level	Community engagement	Community engagement	RL has a positive impact on community engagement and building social capital at the macro level
Macro level	Social capital	Relational social capital
Mediators
Micro level	Self-regulation	Self-efficacy; self-concordance; self-esteem	Leader self-regulation mediates the positive relationship between RL and good employee behaviors	Abbas et al. (2022); Afshari et al. (2023); Ali et al. (2023); Wang et al. (2023); Xuecheng et al. (2022); Zhu et al. (2021)
	Emotion, feeling and well-being	Emotional exhaustion; anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints; psychological strain; pride; satisfaction; burnout; well-being, apathy, job stress	RL reduced bad employee behaviors (e.g. employee cyberloafing) and promoted good employee behaviors by decreasing negative employee emotions, feelings and well-being (e.g. job stress)
	Leader position	Leader position level	Low-level leaders mediate the impact of high-level leaders on unethical behaviors
	Intention	Turnover intentions	Employee turnover intentions mediate the relationship between RL and affective commitment
	Motivation	Motivation; empowerment	Motivation mediates the positive influence of RL on employee engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors
	Perception and orientation	Customer-oriented perspective taking; psychological ownership; employees perceived organizational support; CSR perception.	Positive employees’ perceptions and orientations mediate the positive relationship between RL and employees’ pro-environmental behaviorsPositive leader perceptions and orientations mediate the negative relationship between RL and employee unethical behaviors
	Recognition	Employee recognition	RL is associated with employee emotional well-being through the mediation effect of recognition for social esteem
	Attitude	Employee commitment, engagement	Good employee attitudes mediate the positive association between RL and good employee behaviors and performance
	Behaviors	Green behaviors; knowledge sharing behaviors; leader–member exchange	Employee behaviors mediate the interactive effect of CSR, GHRM and RL on positive employee performance
Meso level	Organizational climate	Inclusive diversity climate; general distributive justice climate; focalism	RL positively influences good employee behaviors and attitudes through the inclusive and diverse organizational climate, while an adverse climate escalates irresponsible behaviors
	Organizational performance	Innovation; performance; reputation	RL positively influence the triple-bottom-line performance through the mediating effect of innovation and organizational performance
	Organizational culture	Corporate ethical culture	Organizational ethical culture will mediate the relationship between RL and firms’ green innovation
	Corporate image	Corporate image	Corporate image and ethical climate mediate the relationship between RL and employees’ turnover intention
	Corporate strategy/ policies	CSR practice, job crafting, environmental management strategy, strategic posture	RL positively influences the organization’s sustainable performance and good employee behaviors/ attitudes through the mediating effect of eco-friendly strategies
	HRM	Green HRM; employment relationship, socially responsible HRM	HRM mediates the positive relationship between RL and employee behaviors, such as innovative behaviors and employee pro-environmental behaviors
	Organizational resilience	Organizational resilience	Organizational resilience mediates the relationship between RL and enterprise ESG performance
Moderators
Micro level	Motivation	Self-enhancement motive	Self-enhancement motive moderates the relationship between RL and work engagement	Cheng et al. (2019); Huo et al. (2023); Tian and Suo (2021); Wang et al. (2023); Zhu et al. (2021)
	Perception and orientation	Leader-employee value congruence; employee goal orientation	Perceptions and orientations of employees moderate the positive impacts of RL on employee pro-environmental behaviors
	Relationship and authority	Leader-member exchange; supervisor-subordinate guanxi, managerial discretion, founder status	High-level leader relationships and authority strengthen the impacts of RL on employee and organizational sustainable performance
	Personality characteristics	Individualism, conscientiousness, authenticity	Positive personality traits strengthen the relationship between RL and employee perception and employee citizenship behaviors
	Chronic regulatory focus	Promotion/prevention focus	Promotion focus strengthens, and prevention focus weakens the relationship between RL and employee pro-environmental behaviors (EPB)
	Behaviors	Helping initiative behaviors	Helping initiative behaviors moderates the association between RL and knowledge-sharing behaviors
	Demographic characteristics	Gender	Gender moderates the relationship between RL and emotional well-being through the mediation effect of recognition for social esteem
Meso level	Human resources management	HRM system strength, green HRM	HRM system strength moderates the link between green HRM practices and RL, which moderates the effects of CSR on employee green behaviors and performances
	Organizational climate	Sustainable organizational climate, relational transparency	Sustainable organizational climate moderates the relationship between RL and employee motivation, commitment and behaviors, while relational transparency moderates the relationship between RL and ethical climate
	Corporate strategy/ policies	Company’s strategy; compensation incentive, CSR practice, founder status	Corporate strategy positively regulates the indirect effect of RL on organizational sustainable performance through organizational resilience

Level	Key areas	Details	Highlights of the findings	References
Antecedents
Micro level	Personality characteristics	Virtuousness, courage; care, justice conscientiousness, responsibility; honesty; integrity; trustworthiness; dark-triad personality traits	Machiavellianism encourages irresponsible behaviorsCourage and risk-taking are important for RLPositive personal characteristics are the antecedents of RLDisobeying orders could be aresponsible leader when facing unachievable tasks	Cameron (2011), Ketola (2012), Maak et al. (2016), Miska et al. (2013), Pingali (2016), Pless (2007), Pless et al. (2011), Sharr (2023), Tirmizi (2023), Üzüm and Özkan (2023), Veetikazhi et al. (2022); Witt and Stahl (2016); Zhang et al. (2022)
	Perception and orientation	Moral identity, perception of moral obligations, perceived social welfare orientation, fiduciary duty	There are positive relationships between value orientations (e.g. perception of moral obligations; perceived fiduciary duty to shareholders) and RL behaviors
	Intelligence	Emotional intelligence, systemic thinking; cultural intelligence, emotional awareness	Intercultural competence is vital for responsible leaders in the context of globalization
	Motivation	Motivational need systems (MNS) and moral motivation.	Motivational need systems and moral, motivational drivers motivate responsible behaviors
	Self-regulation	Personal self-actualization; self-oriented; goal setting; personal aspirations	Self-regulation factors are the driver of RL
	Knowledge, skills, and abilities	Learning reflexibility, empowerment, innovation, vision	Learning reflexibility is essential for RL developmentResponsible leaders should have the vision, engage in ongoing learning process waves of innovation
	Demographic characteristics	Gender	There are gender differences between character traits and challenges of RL in Myanmar between males and females
Meso level	Organizational culture	Organizational systems and culture	Organizational systems and culture should be transparent for RL development
Meso level	Business strategy and management	Business goal, HRM, organizational strategy, human resource development	Business goal difficulty encourages irresponsible behaviorsGood HRM could contribute to the development of RL
Macro level	Roles of stakeholders	mass media, local community pressure	Mass media, local pressure, policy and regulations are essential in forming the proactive and passive RL
	Legal system	policy and regulation
	National culture	Religion; ethnic culture, national culture ethos of the nation; governance	Macro context, including national culture, governance system and religion that can influence a leader’s propensity toward RL
Outcomes
Micro level	Commitment	Employee commitment; employee psychological contract	RL positively leads to employee commitment via a direct effect or a mediating or moderating effects of several individual and organizational factors like organizational identification, CSR or employee turnover intentions	Abbas et al. (2022); Akhtar et al. (2023); Ali et al. (2023); Chin et al. (2023); Coldwell et al. (2012); Doh et al. (2011); Javed et al. (2020b); Khan et al. (2025); Marques et al. (2023); Rao et al. (2022); Saleem and Malik (2022); Ur Rehman et al. (2023); Wang et al. (2023)
	Attitude	Employee support: work engagement	RL positively related to work engagement through the mediating effects of knowledge sharing or CSR
	Behaviors	Employee organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment; participative behaviors; knowledge sharing behaviors; unethical behaviors	RL positively influences good employees and negatively influences unethical behaviorsRL plays a role as the moderator or mediator that contributes to several relationships between organizational factors and employee behaviors
	Perception and orientation	Duty orientation: employee felt responsibility	RL positively related to duty orientation with the mediating effect of job satisfaction
	Emotion, feeling and well-being	Employee well-being, work-life balance, emotional well-being	RL positively related to emotional well-being and affective well-being at work
	Intention	Employee turnover intentions; whistleblowing intentions	RL is negatively associated with employee turnover intentions and positively related to employee whistleblowing intentions
	Performance	Employee sustainable performance, career success, creativity, task performance	RL directly influences positive employee performanceRL moderates the indirect influence of calling on employee creativity via career commitment
Meso level	Organizational performance	Financial performance, sustainable performance, ESG performance; organizational downsizing, firm innovation, safety performance	RL directly influences the positive firm’s financial performance and contributes to sustainable performance and organizational ESGRL moderates several relationships between organizational factors and sustainable organizational performance
	Corporate strategy	CSR activities	RL is a crucial driver of CSR activities, fostering strategic agility
	Corporate reputation	Firm reputation management	RL contributes positively to the firm’s reputation management during and post-crisis by providing a vision and direction for the future
	Organizational climate	Inclusive organizational climate; ethical climate	RL positively related to an inclusive organizational climate and ethical climate
	Organizational social capital	Organizational social capital	RL generates social capital, which contributes to the corporate sustainable (environmental, social and economic) performance
	Organization engagement	Organization’s engagement in high-involvement multi-stakeholder initiatives	RL contribute to organizational engagement in high-involvement multi-stakeholder initiatives for sustainable development
	Relationship management	Customer relationship performance; stakeholder conflict resolution	RL is positively associated with enhanced customer relationship performance and is crucial in resolving stakeholder conflict
Macro level	Community engagement	Community engagement	RL has a positive impact on community engagement and building social capital at the macro level
Macro level	Social capital	Relational social capital
Mediators
Micro level	Self-regulation	Self-efficacy; self-concordance; self-esteem	Leader self-regulation mediates the positive relationship between RL and good employee behaviors	Abbas et al. (2022); Afshari et al. (2023); Ali et al. (2023); Wang et al. (2023); Xuecheng et al. (2022); Zhu et al. (2021)
	Emotion, feeling and well-being	Emotional exhaustion; anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints; psychological strain; pride; satisfaction; burnout; well-being, apathy, job stress	RL reduced bad employee behaviors (e.g. employee cyberloafing) and promoted good employee behaviors by decreasing negative employee emotions, feelings and well-being (e.g. job stress)
	Leader position	Leader position level	Low-level leaders mediate the impact of high-level leaders on unethical behaviors
	Intention	Turnover intentions	Employee turnover intentions mediate the relationship between RL and affective commitment
	Motivation	Motivation; empowerment	Motivation mediates the positive influence of RL on employee engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors
	Perception and orientation	Customer-oriented perspective taking; psychological ownership; employees perceived organizational support; CSR perception.	Positive employees’ perceptions and orientations mediate the positive relationship between RL and employees’ pro-environmental behaviorsPositive leader perceptions and orientations mediate the negative relationship between RL and employee unethical behaviors
	Recognition	Employee recognition	RL is associated with employee emotional well-being through the mediation effect of recognition for social esteem
	Attitude	Employee commitment, engagement	Good employee attitudes mediate the positive association between RL and good employee behaviors and performance
	Behaviors	Green behaviors; knowledge sharing behaviors; leader–member exchange	Employee behaviors mediate the interactive effect of CSR, GHRM and RL on positive employee performance
Meso level	Organizational climate	Inclusive diversity climate; general distributive justice climate; focalism	RL positively influences good employee behaviors and attitudes through the inclusive and diverse organizational climate, while an adverse climate escalates irresponsible behaviors
	Organizational performance	Innovation; performance; reputation	RL positively influence the triple-bottom-line performance through the mediating effect of innovation and organizational performance
	Organizational culture	Corporate ethical culture	Organizational ethical culture will mediate the relationship between RL and firms’ green innovation
	Corporate image	Corporate image	Corporate image and ethical climate mediate the relationship between RL and employees’ turnover intention
	Corporate strategy/ policies	CSR practice, job crafting, environmental management strategy, strategic posture	RL positively influences the organization’s sustainable performance and good employee behaviors/ attitudes through the mediating effect of eco-friendly strategies
	HRM	Green HRM; employment relationship, socially responsible HRM	HRM mediates the positive relationship between RL and employee behaviors, such as innovative behaviors and employee pro-environmental behaviors
	Organizational resilience	Organizational resilience	Organizational resilience mediates the relationship between RL and enterprise ESG performance
Moderators
Micro level	Motivation	Self-enhancement motive	Self-enhancement motive moderates the relationship between RL and work engagement	Cheng et al. (2019); Huo et al. (2023); Tian and Suo (2021); Wang et al. (2023); Zhu et al. (2021)
	Perception and orientation	Leader-employee value congruence; employee goal orientation	Perceptions and orientations of employees moderate the positive impacts of RL on employee pro-environmental behaviors
	Relationship and authority	Leader-member exchange; supervisor-subordinate guanxi, managerial discretion, founder status	High-level leader relationships and authority strengthen the impacts of RL on employee and organizational sustainable performance
	Personality characteristics	Individualism, conscientiousness, authenticity	Positive personality traits strengthen the relationship between RL and employee perception and employee citizenship behaviors
	Chronic regulatory focus	Promotion/prevention focus	Promotion focus strengthens, and prevention focus weakens the relationship between RL and employee pro-environmental behaviors (EPB)
	Behaviors	Helping initiative behaviors	Helping initiative behaviors moderates the association between RL and knowledge-sharing behaviors
	Demographic characteristics	Gender	Gender moderates the relationship between RL and emotional well-being through the mediation effect of recognition for social esteem
Meso level	Human resources management	HRM system strength, green HRM	HRM system strength moderates the link between green HRM practices and RL, which moderates the effects of CSR on employee green behaviors and performances
	Organizational climate	Sustainable organizational climate, relational transparency	Sustainable organizational climate moderates the relationship between RL and employee motivation, commitment and behaviors, while relational transparency moderates the relationship between RL and ethical climate
	Corporate strategy/ policies	Company’s strategy; compensation incentive, CSR practice, founder status	Corporate strategy positively regulates the indirect effect of RL on organizational sustainable performance through organizational resilience

Source(s): Table created by authors

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