Conceptualizing and Contextualizing “Executive Wisdom” as a Framework for Business Leadership: A Grounded Theory Approach

Abstract

This study contextualizes business leaders’ perspectives on business-society interaction through the theoretical lens of wisdom. Morally effective interaction between business and society relies on shared perceptions of expected values grounded in leaders’ virtuous behavior. Through empirical fieldwork across industries in a developing society, the article documents how local business leaders perceive wise leadership in dealing with socially complex problems. Using grounded theory, we inductively developed a model of wisdom, executive wisdom, that identifies 14 characteristics of wisdom, located in three groups: technē, wise decisions, and virtuous disposition. The findings broaden the view of the complex nature of wise decision-making in the business-society context.