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The purpose of this paper was to examine how community engagement can be influenced by responsible leadership during crises. It looks at the phenomenon of community engagement and responsible leadership in India during the Covid-19 pandemic, using the collective responses of community.

This paper uses netnography, which studies community interpretations through their online social communication. The perceptions on how engaged the Indian community felt during the pandemic were studied by collecting and analysing their postings on social media.

The findings suggest that responsible leadership – through the building of trust, open communication, collective consciousness and mindful action – is an effective way to positively engage stakeholders and influence community response during a pandemic.

This paper contributes to the literature of responsible leadership and community engagement during crises. It is an attempt to link public leadership with responsible leadership and its impact on community engagement in a novel way, filling a void in the literature.