Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2016
Abstract
Do leaders who define their business in terms of achieving a greater purpose as well as financial profit attain more favorable outcomes in terms of both profit and social or environmental outcomes? When those leaders approach their business with a sense of connectedness (or what we call a "consciousness of connectedness"), do they create an environment in their organizations with higher levels of shared vision, greater compassion and collaboration, and does this in turn lead to positive social and environmental outcomes as well as better economic outcomes? This exploratory research is aimed at investigating how a consciousness of connectedness within leaders, combined with a business intent that includes serving a greater purpose, impacts economic, social and environmental outcomes of business organizations. Based on a quantitative survey methodology with 322 respondents consisting of business owners, senior executives and middle managers from a cross section of industries, our findings suggest that greater purpose, and a leader's consciousness of connectedness, may have a measurable impact on the relationships and climate within organizations and on perceived output in terms of economic prosperity and positive social and environmental outcomes.
Keywords
management, social integration, consciousness of connectedness, Weatherhead School of Management, connectedness, consciousness, leadership, flourishing, mindfulness, spirituality, social and environmental impact
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Leah, Joseph, "Consciousness of Connectedness, Greater Purpose and Positive Business, Social and Environmental Outcomes" (2016). Student Scholarship. 143.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/143