Teresa Correia De Lacerda

Transformational Leadership: Toward a Strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility Teresa Correia De Lacerda

Transformational leadership has been used to enhance the development of firms' strategies by focusing on the common interests of the community. This book aims to analyze the impact of transformational leadership and ethical integrity in firms' strategic orientation related to corporate social responsibility. A survey of the largest Portuguese firms was conducted during the second quarter of 2009; data from 50 participating firms were gathered through a self-reporting questionnaire. The results indicated that transformational leadership is positively related to a firm's strategic orientation in regard to corporate social responsibility. However, leaders' ethical integrity was not significantly linked to the adoption of corporate social responsibility practices. These findings suggest that further research is needed in regard to leaders' ethical integrity and firms' social responsibility orientation. Practitioners may also benefit from these findings by using them to transform themselves into truly transformational leaders who incorporate corporate social responsibility as a core strategic value within their firms.