Does Compassion Matter in Leadership? A Two‐Stage Sequential Equal Status Mixed Method Exploratory Study of Compassionate Leader Behavior and Connections to Performance in Human Resource Development

Abstract

Abstract The transformative power of compassion is critical to leader performance and has garnered increasing interest in business settings. Despite substantive contributions toward the conceptual understanding of compassion, prior empirical work on the relationship between compassion and leader performance is relatively limited. This article presents compassionate leader behavior as a conceptualization of a new leadership construct. A two‐stage, sequential, and equal status mixed method research design was utilized to develop and validate a measure of compassionate leadership. Study 1 used a phenomenological approach to understand how leaders engage with compassion and how their experiences and behaviors associated with compassion affect performance within the context of their leadership. Findings indicated that when leaders focused on compassionate behaviors during routine and focal events in the organization, six distinctive themes—integrity, empathy, accountability, authenticity, presence, and dignity—emerged as individual‐level building blocks of compassionate leadership behavior. In Study 2, we developed and validated a Compassionate Leader Behavior Index (CLBI) based on the six emergent behaviors and found general support for compassionate leadership for both practice and research. Implications of study findings and directions for future research in human resource development (HRD) are discussed.