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The purposes of this paper are to present a clear model for understanding trust by integrating the diverse viewpoints in the trust literature and to explain how that model enables individuals and organizations to optimize their ability to create value and sustain competitive advantage.

This is a conceptual paper that integrates the perspectives of many widely regarded scholars and links trust with value creation in organizations.

The paper builds on previously established conditions essential to creating trust but suggests that trustworthiness requires an integrative quality which we call “capacity” that enables those who seek to lead to translate trust into action. That integrative quality is the key to effective execution for individuals and organizations.

Trust is widely acknowledged to be both a critical condition for successful organizations but a missing commodity in many leader-follower relationships. The paper offers insights for scholars and practitioners about the importance of leaders earning trust by being worthy of their followers’ commitment and cooperation.

This paper aims to explore the problematic of public policies and leadership challenges for socio-economic transformation in South Africa. The paper illustrates that policies and laws of socio-economic reform have been introduced in democratic South Africa. However, socio-economic transformation remains a challenge. Lack of trust in the leadership relationships amongst political and economic agents is pointed as a contributing factor. Hence, LE emerges as a leadership strategy to help mitigate the problem.

The paper starts by presenting the current economic situation of South Africa touching on some important economic indicators to illustrate the consequences of poor leadership in public policy implementation process. The paper then analyses the leadership challenges to drive socio-economic reforms that have been introduced in South Africa since the end of apartheid with focus on the current National Development Plan. Lack of trust in leadership is identified as a problematic factor and leadership ethos (LE) emerges as a leadership strategy to enable the building of trust in leadership for the purpose of a successful implementation of public policies.

Lack of trust in leadership is identified as a problematic factor contributing in the absence of cooperation and collaboration in the leadership relationship amongst public servants (from up to bottom) and citizens for the purpose of successful implementation of public policies. Hence, there is need for a new leadership paradigm that would enable the building of trust in these leadership relationships. LE emerges as such a leadership strategy.

The paper calls for an exploration into the understanding and practice of LE and its inherent critical success factors (CSFs) considered as a leadership strategy that can help drive particularly public policies implementation process. LE intends to promote moral leadership that helps public servants to build good character and thus the will to do the right thing, and mutually trusting relationship is a CSF of LE. Therefore LE enables build the much needed trust in leadership relationships for a successful organisational leadership and management.

This paper provides significant implications by identifying lack of trust as a problematic factor in the leadership relationships amongst political and economic agents in South Africa, contributing thus in the poor implementation of public policies. LE emerges as a leadership strategy that would help mitigate the problem by enabling the building, the maintenance and restoration of trust in organisational and or institutional management for a successful public policy implementation process.

Background: Amid increasing leadership failures in the global business context, the mining industry is one of the industries with many adverse incidents, affecting employee safety, the environment, and surrounding communities. Emerging economies tend to have unique socio-economic challenges and greater relative economic dependence on mining, presenting unique challenges to leaders. The purpose of this research was to study the realities of responsible leadership in the mining industry in an emerging economy.

Methods: A qualitative research study, consisting of semi-structured interviews was conducted. Nine senior mine managers were selected to represent perspectives from different operations and mining houses. Data was gathered from August to October 2020 in South Africa, an emerging economy with significant mining operations. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted through the use of software, rendering five themes, with 12 sub-themes.

Results: The research found that requirements on mining leaders in emerging economies demand consistent balancing of a complex set of competing risks, whilst attending to paradoxical requirements among operations, and internal and external stakeholders. Leaders face several competing requirements from stakeholders, the environment, mining practices, and time frames. Responsible leaders must navigate a paradoxical maze of needs and time horizons, with several conflicting forces and dilemmas, and dichotomous relationships. Responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy is a proverbial minefield of paradoxes and dilemmas between responsible intentions and practical realities. These paradoxes and dilemmas are specifically acute in the context of emerging economies due to the dire socio-economic situations. A total of 10 competencies emerged as essential responsible leadership requirements in this context.

Conclusions: The study provides an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of responsible leadership in the mining industry of an emerging economy. This understanding will contribute to capacitating leaders in the mining industries of emerging economies to act responsibly.

Although much has been written about leadership, the concept of leadership vision is not widely understood, is far more complex than is commonly perceived, and is profoundly ethical in its normative and instrumental nature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of leadership vision, identify seven complex elements, which are key elements of leadership, and identify the importance of leadership vision as a moral duty. Eight testable propositions about leadership vision are presented that address the nature of leadership vision.

This paper begins with an examination of the complex nature of leadership vision. After defining leadership vision, this paper identifies seven key elements and nine propositions that practitioners and scholars can test to assess the nature of that vision. Following the presentation of three significant contributions, this paper concludes with a challenge to practitioners and scholars to closely examine the importance of leadership vision.

This paper invites leaders in today’s complex organizations to refine their leadership vision by honoring the duties they owe to others. The leadership vision strengthens leaders’ capacity to guide and serve their organizations and the people working within them.

This paper assists leaders in their duty to serve their organizations, its stakeholders, and a society that badly needs great leaders with vision, commitment to excellence, and a clear moral compass.

This paper provides three significant implications about leadership vision. It defines leadership vision as a complex and multi-faceted moral duty; it presents eight testable propositions about leadership vision, which have value for both practitioners and scholars; it raises the bar for would-be leaders with regard to the obligations that they have in serving others and in guiding organizations.

Social responsibility (SR) in accepting the obligation to resolve the many troubling problems facing tomorrow’s generations is essential if those problems are to be effectively addressed. The purpose of this paper is to identify the nature of SR for business, academic institutions, government, religious institutions, and individuals.

This paper is a conceptual paper which relies heavily on the current literature about social obligations for five major organizations: business, academic institutions, government, religious institutions, and individuals.

The paper provides the standard of the virtuous continuum and the Hosmer decision-making model to explain why leaders, organizations, and individuals must be more responsible to be perceived as virtuous leaders, complete with 50 examples of action to be taken.

As this paper is not an empirical study, it does not present research information.

This paper suggests that organizations can be more effective if they come to understand the responsibilities and stewardship of social responsibilities entrusted to them.

The paper expands on Hosmer’s research and incorporates a virtuous continuum in examining the responsibilities of leaders, organizations, and individuals. More importantly, this paper is among the first to identify specific steps organizations and individuals can take in addressing the challenges and problems facing the world of in key aspects of society.