The Afrocentric approach to leadership is based on the principles of ubuntu, which prioritises humanism and emphasises the importance of collective consciousness in addressing societal issues. This approach to leadership emphasises dialogue, shared experiences and critical perspectives (Mbigi, 2005). Kamwangamalu (2013) concurs and states that Ubuntu-influenced leadership encompasses self-respect, respect for others, human dignity and life, sharedness, obedience, humility, solidarity, care, hospitality, interdependence and a sense of community. Other fundamental tenets of Ubuntu include religiosity (Gaim & Clegg, 2021), consensus building and dialogue (Toendepi, 2013). Humanism is a controversial, multifaceted concept. Nida-Rumelin and Winter (2024) point to several humanism facets like religious humanism (Hall, 2006), utopian humanism (Berriel, 2022) and existential humanism (Spinelli, 2012). Pless et al. (2021) state that a humane orientation is virtuous and relational with an understanding of others. Afrocentric humanism has mystical elements that go further to embed spirituality and connectedness. Spirituality is an inherent human characteristic that involves a deep connection to something greater than oneself, a belief in intrinsic worth and a sense of purpose in life (Sargeant & Yoxall, 2023). It is a complex and universal aspect of human experience, fundamental to human existence in Afrocentrism.

Leaders who are responsible show a humane approach in their interactions with stakeholders. Such individuals often feel a strong sense of responsibility towards the community, focussing on long-term prosperity (Mbigi, 2005). Afrocentricity advocates for collective welfare and ethical service provision to people and advances a sense of belongingness and a communal notion of human existence and well-being (Asamoah & Yeboah-Assiamah, 2019). It resonates strongly with the notion of ‘people first’, meaning that what belongs to one belongs to all and must be used for a shared interest. It also foregrounds the notion of community and urges individuals to assist in championing the interests of the collective society (Setlhodi, 2019). Afrocentrism is set to decolonise the Eurocentric (a modern construct consisting of Western prejudices about other people) outlook and ideas of what African means spiritually, ethically, philosophically and intellectually (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015). Ubuntu is a worldview founded on the African philosophy whose core tenet is ‘I am because we are’ and emphasises solidarity and dependability among people (Mbigi, 2000). These principles of Ubuntu, which speak to an individual about how one relates to others and how others build the individual, speak to a value system of what governs African societies. It further advocates for altruistic approaches (Mele, 2009), being pro-people and collectivism as opposed to advancing the interests of a select or elite few (Eyong, 2019).

Key to the Ubuntu approach are people, teamwork, interconnectedness, caring, collective vision, performance and loyalty (Msila, 2022). The Afrocentric worldview recognises life as a cycle of birth, death and rebirth, meaning the spirit cannot be destroyed. Hence, the spirit of a being must be treated with dignity. This is where spirituality and connectedness emanate and connect communities to their ancestral lineage. Pirson et al. (2019) discuss dignity as the ability to establish self-worth, self-respect and appreciation for others, which almost speaks to the Afrocentric responsibility idiom of ‘I am because you are’. Dignity in Afrocentrism is earned through behaviours that demonstrate reliability, trustworthiness, respect for others, altruism and all intrinsic values that can be classified as humhu (in the Shona language) or ubuntu (in the Zulu/Ndebele languages). Laszlo (2019) and Mele (2016) argue that preserving dignity goes beyond self-respect and worthiness to promoting well-being, shared prosperity and social flourishing.

Mbigi (1997) asserts that leaders must self-introspect to understand these values, particularly as African culture deeply underpins the collective consciousness of Ubuntu while allowing individual talent and subjectivity to flourish. Msila (2015) reflects that because post-colonial villages actively supported and celebrated individuals, it can be inferred that individual aspirations were reached through the community. Similarly, responsible leaders display the virtues of humility and moderation, allowing them to balance their inner selves with the needs of stakeholders (Pless et al., 2021).

The key for the individual leader is to build a sense of community with others by displaying respect, responsibility and accountability towards self and others and by suspending personal goals and selfishness (Dolamo, 2013). There is an explicit acceptance of collectivism, relationship building and cooperation for the common good (Nzimakwe, 2014). Kamwangamalu (2013) argues that Ubuntu prioritises the group’s interests over those of individual members and promotes accountability to each other. It is against this understanding that the achievement of group goals is premised on achieving the goals of individuals in the group (Msila, 2015; Nzimakwe, 2014). Hence, Gaim and Clegg (2021) state that people can pursue their interests by contributing to the community’s common interests. In Afrocentricity, accountability is demanded of each community member, particularly regarding self again, through the principle of ‘I am because you are’, which enhances the dignity of self and others. Pirson et al. (2019) refer to dignity as an intrinsic value. As a result, Afrocentric social accountability inevitably influences organisations to be part of the communities in which they operate (Green-Thompson et al., 2017).

A vision of a group is the embodiment of the individuals forming the group (Pillay et al., 2013). It arises from consensus building through honest and elaborate discussions and the provision of equal opportunities to voice issues until an agreement or group cohesion is reached and a collective vision is formed (Gaim & Clegg, 2021; Toendepi, 2013). Pillay et al. (2013) and Mbigi (2000) explain that the formation of the collective vision and the common good is through the Ubuntu spirit and collective understanding that each one’s dignity must be respected, advancing solidarity, teamwork, servicing others and interdependence. Bulti (2020) concurs with Mbigi (2000) that for organisations to thrive, the vision of an organisation must be a product of teamwork and solidarity. Workplaces practising Ubuntu foster a collective vision (Msila, 2015), which leads to their employees identifying as organisational citizens, boosting their collective identity.

Steenkamp et al. (2022) and Van Eych and Steenkamp (2021) discuss the multi-stakeholder partnerships founded on sustainability and sustainable development goals (SDGs). Sustainability seeks to achieve the triple bottom line of profits, societal well-being and the environment without negatively influencing the needs of future generations (Scherer & Voegtlin, 2020). This approach advocates for all organisations across the public, private and non-government sectors to infuse the ethos of sustainability in daily operations (Bostrom et al., 2018) with the notion that ‘a person is because of the community’ or the notion that ‘it takes a community to raise a child’, all speaking to the common good and a sense of responsibility. It takes a responsible leader to foster partisanship through open communication for the betterment of the community (Msila, 2015). Afrocentricity embraces forming partnerships among people to advance community aspirations (Jorgensen & Graven, 2021). Partnership in the Afrocentric context is based on communal ties to build permanent relationships and advance community interests. Community members willingly cooperate and form partnerships to achieve a collective vision for survival and sustainability (Dudzai, 2021). Mbigi (2007, p. 297) identifies the primary values of Afrocentric leadership as ‘respect for the dignity of others, group solidarity, teamwork, service to others, and interdependence’. Hence, responsible Afrocentric leadership embraces humanistic management practices, balancing self with stakeholders and being sociable, humble and tolerant enough to enhance mutual sympathy and acceptance.

Responsible leadership is the skill and aptitude that involves establishing, refining and sustaining trustful relationships with diverse stakeholders and coordinating responsible action to achieve a meaningful and commonly shared business vision (Maak, 2007). Ozkan and Uzum (2021) posit that responsible leadership is the ability to design and execute responsibility-orientated activities to create relationships grounded in trust with internal and external stakeholders and create shared values. Toendepi (2021) also argues that responsible leadership is responsive to the needs, concerns and interests of those being led. Responsible leadership proposes the need for organisations to go beyond immediate economic interests and to advance corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Haque et al., 2019; King IV, 2016). It is a concept that describes an organisation’s approach to voluntarily integrate stakeholder expectations in its operations to achieve its bottom line (environment, social, economic and sustainability) (Arena et al., 2019; Haque et al., 2019; King IV, 2016). It converges with the Afrocentric perspective because it allows people to shape their reality for a sustainable future.

Singh and Misra (2021) define CSR as an approach that recognises business sustainability as interdependent with society’s existence and growth. Hence, responsible leadership connects CSR with stakeholder theory (Stahl & De Luque, 2014). Therefore, CSR and Afrocentric humanism have become similar in their concern for the populace’s well-being. Maak et al. (2016) affirm that responsible leadership is concerned with broader outcomes involving stakeholder satisfaction and reaching higher social needs from an organisational and societal perspective. It is about being responsible as an individual leader (possessing values and virtues) and ultimately as a collective through looking after each other. Szczepanska-Wosazozyna et al. (2015) state that the significance of responsible leadership in the current volatile environment is an interactive process with stakeholders driven by shared goals while espousing values and principles of ethics as a basis for interactions. In Afrocentric interactions, achieving consensus is where mutual learning takes place.

Muff et al. (2020) assert that modern-time leaders must be weavers, stitching together varying societal stakeholders into a cohesive societal fabric. Afrocentric humanism is also about putting heads together to garner collective intelligence. Ozkan and Uzum (2021) concur that responsible leadership concerns the ability to design and execute responsibility-orientated activities to create relationships grounded in trust with internal and external stakeholders and the creation of shared values. Some crucial facets of responsibility serve as preconditions to responsible leadership, including the responsibility to self, the team, the organisation and the community in which the organisation operates or serves. Responsible leadership depends on stakeholder satisfaction as a crucial aspect of being responsible.

In the Afrocentric perspective, understanding self is a virtue required to be a good leader. Hence, self-responsibility and self-awareness become interwoven with spirituality. Emotional intelligence encompassing personal and social competencies (Goleman, 1998) is necessary for a leader’s ability to comprehend the necessity for working with, noting the worth of people from different backgrounds and engaging them for a shared goal (Crawford et al., 2020; Maak et al., 2016). Similarly, the responsible leader requires ethical intelligence to manage emerging conflicts of interest and ethical dilemmas and to act according to humane and moral values (Pless & Maak, 2005). However, in Afrocentric responsible leadership, this creates a challenge that weakens the process as balancing conflicting stakeholder interests delays decision-making and almost disempowers the leaders as leadership becomes a shared and/or collective effort. Further, self-responsibility means having the innate drive to take charge and initiate action, especially in a leadership position (Haque et al., 2019). Pedrini and Ferrie (2018) and Civera and Freeman (2019) argue that a responsible leader must have the ability to respond to internal issues or external challenges. Similarly, Sefako (2021) and Maier (2019) state that self-responsibility involves acknowledging that every action comes with consequences, and that accountability is demanded. Taking responsibility for oneself can also cultivate empathy, which is the capacity to understand and relate to the experiences of others (Alam et al., 2018), as in Afrocentric responsible leading.

Leaders do not work alone; they rely on a shared sense of group membership with followers within a specific social setting, such as a team, department or organisation (Van Dick et al., 2018). The Afrocentric perspective emphasises giving a ‘voice to the voiceless’ by embracing numerous viewpoints to be tabled and then reaching a consensus on the challenge and how it can be solved. This fosters unity, promoting a ‘we’ mentality instead of a ‘me versus them’ mindset. Therefore, leadership primarily involves the process of social influence, which may be swayed by an individual’s membership in various social groups (Northouse, 2021). The convergence here is that Afrocentric mutuality in decision-making also views leadership as a social effort. Socially responsible actions include facilitating the free flow of information between leaders and team members, resolving complaints and fostering a culture that promotes employee satisfaction (Singh & Misra, 2021). Pless et al. (2012) argue that a leader’s obligation to their team and/or stakeholders drives them to connect with team members to deal with challenges collaboratively. Hence, groups operate on a collective mindset where all members contribute to identifying and solving problems, as in Afrocentric thinking.

Being responsible to the community is central to the Afrocentric responsible leadership. Hence, leaders must ensure that their organisation’s actions sustainably benefit the communities in which they operate. By acknowledging the life cycle of birth, death and rebirth, Afrocentrism regards generations as transient caretakers of the organisation and the environment. Sustainable organisations operate with respect, truth and compassion in communities because failure to do so harms sustainability. It thus becomes essential to consider how day-to-day operations and governance unfold for value creation (Voegtlin et al., 2020).

Leadership practices also involve being sensitive to shareholders while considering their interests in tandem with those of other stakeholders (employees, unions, suppliers and communities) in a coherent strategic direction. An Afrocentric perspective on responsible leadership is synonymous with this kind of sensitivity because of its thrust to draw from the African values that have sustained African communities and nations for generations. This perspective is about considering or acknowledging others in relation to self and attaining the common good (Mbigi, 2000). However, the Afrocentric approach to responsible leadership goes further to embrace leaders or heroes as part of the community, thereby collapsing the leadership hierarchy and advancing connectedness, interdependency and collective decision-making informed by collective intelligence.

Qualitative research data can be collected using interviews, observations, audio-visual materials and documents (Creswell, 2014). Semi-structured interviews were utilised because of the flexibility of adapting the questions from one participant to the next while accommodating the context and the generation of themes (Saunders et al., 2019). An interview guide was designed based on the research questions and research objectives. Most of the questions that controlled the interviewing process were on responsible leadership practices and how these aspects can be used in the transformational processes in the public sector. Table 1 shows some of the controlling questions that resulted in the theme of responsible leadership in communities.

Each participant signed a consent form to be audio-recorded after receiving an information letter about the research and the rights of participants. Microsoft Teams was selected as the platform for this research because of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased demand for virtual interactions. Additionally, the platform offered audio and automated transcript features necessary before data analysis. The rationale for the semi-structured interviews was to attain an in-depth understanding of responsible leadership practices. In the information letter to participants, voluntary participation, confidentiality of data and anonymity of participants were emphasised. The data were analysed using the six stages of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2016). The analysis was done manually using a colour coding system where each colour represented recurring codes, which were regrouped into sub-themes and, subsequently, a theme. In the first stage, the researchers arranged the data for analysis and read over the scripts to understand what was being said before embarking on the initial coding (stage 2). An example of the latter stage is shown in Table 2.

The grouping of codes according to their shared meaning and similarity was the basis for forming sub-themes. Stage 3 involved generating themes. The emerging themes were formed by merging sub-themes with similar characteristics, as illustrated in Table 3.

During stage 4, the themes were reviewed to ensure their accuracy and usefulness in answering the research questions (Braun & Clarke, 2016). In stage 5, the researchers named and defined the themes by assigning a representative name to the codes in each of them. Stage 6 involved presenting the data based on themes and using direct participant quotes to support the narrative (Percy et al., 2015). Direct quotes ensure credibility and act as a check against the researchers’ interpretation of participants’ words. Seven themes emerged; however, the narrative is based on the one theme of responsible leadership in communities and its three sub-themes of collectivism and community, collective vision and partnership.

The institution’s IPPM Ethics Committee granted ethical clearance on 28 June 2021 IPPM-2021-522(M). Permission to conduct research was sought from the organisation under study. The critical ethical considerations applied in the study included obtaining informed consent, voluntary participation, data confidentiality and anonymity (Gray, 2019). The informed consent from participants was used to ensure voluntary participation. The document also detailed the participants’ rights to either agree or decline to be audio recorded and to withdraw from the study without any consequence. Saunders et al. (2019) state that ensuring the integrity of the information collected in research is the researcher’s responsibility, as they should guarantee confidentiality and anonymity to participants. All participants were identified with a pseudonym, X1–X10.

Measures were taken to ensure the trustworthiness of the qualitative research. The criteria assessed credibility, transferability, confirmability and dependability (Connelly, 2016). Nowell et al. (2017) state that trustworthiness involves establishing if the research findings are worth noting and considering. Hence, credibility refers to the degree of trust that can be placed in the research accurately reflecting the participants’ experiences (Moon et al., 2016). The researchers explained the qualitative research procedures used, ensuring transparency and authenticity while checking for biases. Transferability was ensured through thick descriptions of the context, population characteristics and sample because transferability measures the extent to which the findings can be helpful in other settings (Connelly, 2016).

Confirmability refers to how others can verify research findings. In this study, the researchers maintained a transparent record of the methodology and analysis procedures to ensure the findings were reliable and reproducible (Connelly, 2016). Ensuring dependability in research involves maintaining consistency and adhering to the accepted standards for the chosen research design. The analysis process was logical, clear and in line with the research methods and plans established from the study’s outset. Moon et al. (2016) and Nowell et al. (2017) emphasise the importance of aligning the research process with these standards to ensure dependability.

The findings showed that one must prioritise the group’s interests and identify as a group member to achieve self-actualisation. Hence, leaders achieve responsible citizenship by prioritising their citizen role through self-responsibility. The participants understood that responsibility extends beyond the organisation into the families of the employees and the communities and is a reciprocal process:

Being responsible to self and taking responsibility allows leaders to show empathy, care for others and lead from a space of collectivism. The participants acknowledged that decisions cannot be made in isolation, as the group and/or team must be involved in the decision-making process. Afrocentrism encourages involvement; hence, decision-making is based on a collective understanding and consensus; both require a humanistic inclination to achieve the best results:

Participants kept referring to empathy, which is feeling for others, a humanistic characteristic:

In an Afrocentric collective, everyone adds value to the progress of a group/team/community. In this context, it is essential to maintain a certain level of reciprocal accountability. This means group members must be honest and hold each other accountable for the decisions made. It involves being responsible to oneself and others within the group and the whole group. After all, the group can only succeed through collective efforts and commitment; hence, ‘I am because you are’. Participant X1 said:

For members of an executive team, it is crucial to understand that one is part of the leadership community and responsible for all aspects of the organisation. It is not about serving a particular niche but all stakeholders, including those outside the immediate circle. A strong sense of altruism and willingness to serve others must exist, which collapses the silo mentality:

Moreover, the vision of the group/team/community must be a product of the diverse members. Therefore, putting heads together for collective intelligence is a basis for a humanistic approach to developing a collective vision. However, the individual leader who introduces an option must be passionate about their proposal and be able to listen to the variation of the vision by giving a voice to the voiceless:

It is also the responsibility of each leader to see that the vision is clearly understood at all levels to channel resources towards worthy causes that benefit the community. Responsible Afrocentrism values honesty and equal opportunities for group members:

Bulti (2020), Pillay et al. (2013) and Mbigi (2000) agree that for consensus to be achieved, each member of the community must be given a voice and dignity to enhance teamwork and solidarity:

The mantras of Ubuntu are ‘I am because we are’, ‘it takes a community to raise a child’ or ‘hands wash each other’. These mantras foreground the crucial nature of stakeholder engagement platforms in building partnerships to achieve a collective vision and maximise scarce resources. Partnership in the Afrocentric approach is based on how the community is connected in continuously evolving relationships:

Responsible leaders prioritise being accessible and collaborating with stakeholders to create a functional partnership that is mutually beneficial. With limited resources and increasing demands, effective collaboration is essential to pull resources and respond to challenges collectively. Hence, the African saying, ‘one finger cannot pick up a grain’, emphasises the collective partnership efforts:

Partnerships with key stakeholders allow for collaborative responses to challenges:

Honest communication is premised on the acceptance that while there is a partnership, there are diverse views from the different stakeholders or those serviced by the partnership.

According to the Afrocentric perspective, dialogue is highly regarded for achieving consensus. When group members appreciate their diversity, it enhances self-dignity and dignifies the contributions:

The Afrocentric approach converges with other views about responsible leadership in advancing CSR and paying particular attention to the aspirations of communities. However, it goes further to embrace spirituality, connectedness and interdependence, thus collapsing the leadership hierarchy.