Ethics in Leadership for Sustainable Business: A Dharmic Perspective from Indian Wisdom

Since the non-western perspectives of ethics have not been well explored in the literature, this paper addresses this concern by explaining ethics from an ancient Indian concept of dharma. Though we consider various normative aspects of dharma from multiple conversations available in the Indian scriptures, we consider a precise narrative of dharma from Nāradaparivrājaka Upaniṣad as the fundamental reference to define dharma as a multidimensional construct. Further, we adopt a dharmic approach to highlight the significance of ethics in leadership which may significantly contribute to assuring sustainable business practices. The paper would bring in certain theoretical implications as follows. First, elucidating certain dimensions of dharma would help broaden the normative domain of ethics literature. Second, given the sustainability-engrained nature of Vedic philosophy, such a dharmic approach toward ethical leadership would further widen the construct with a novel theoretical viewpoint. Third, the acknowledgment of a specific leadership act to be ethical or unethical becomes more objective in this context with the provision of a definitional framework of dharma, narrated in this paper.