Beyond Management: Leading with Purpose to Engage Employees

How can leaders move beyond traditional management to create workplaces where employees are genuinely engaged, motivated, and able to thrive?

As organisations face rapid technological change, evolving workforce expectations, and increasing pressure to demonstrate purpose-driven leadership, understanding the relationship between leadership and employee engagement has never been more critical.

Beyond Management: Leading with Purpose to Engage Employees brings together leading international scholars and practitioners to examine the theoretical foundations, empirical evidence, and real-world applications shaping modern leadership and engagement practices. The volume explores diverse topics including inclusive leadership, digital transformation, well-being, sustainability, cross-cultural competence, and behavioural drivers of engagement. Each chapter integrates rigorous research with practical insights, offering readers actionable frameworks, case-informed analysis, and forward-looking perspectives.

This authoritative collection provides a comprehensive guide for academics, organisational leaders, HR professionals, and students seeking to understand and apply purpose-driven leadership strategies that foster resilient, high-performing, and engaged workforces.

Benjamin Laker is Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School, University of Reading, where he has held a chair since 2018. His research examines how organisational order is constructed, strained and reconstituted under conditions of institutional precarity and socio-normative contestation across contemporary settings. Resultant findings from his research have been published in the Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, the Journal of Consumer Research, Human Resource Management, the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Organizational Research Methods, Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. Benjamin serves as Consulting Editor at the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Associate Editor at the International Journal of Human Resource Management and the Journal of Business Research.

Chidi Ogbonnaya is a Full Professor of Human Resource Management and Associate Dean for Doctoral Studies at King’s Business School. His research explores strategic HRM, job quality, social responsibility, business ethics, responsible leadership, employee well-being, and workplace productivity. He regularly advises global organisations on evidence-based people management strategies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), championing inclusive business practices that advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chidi’s work has appeared in leading journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Human Resource Management, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. His insights have also been featured in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Forbes, The Times, and Financial Times, among others. He works closely with policymakers and currently serves as Associate Editor for both Human Relations and Journal of Management Studies.

William Degbey is Associate Professor of International Management at the University of Vaasa, Finland. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Åbo Akademi University and a Senior Fellow at the University of Turku. He has held visiting research scholar positions at leading institutions, including Stanford University and Harvard University. His research examines the human side of collaborative engagements, innovation, AI, international management, and strategy, with particular attention to leadership, employee flourishing, responsible innovation, mergers and acquisitions, and ethical decision-making. His projects have received competitive funding from global organisations and government agencies, including Wärtsilä and Business Finland, supporting research that advances responsible innovation, ethical AI, and sustainable business practices. His work has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and Journal of Vocational Behavior. His insights have also been featured in practitioner outlets including Harvard Business Review and Forbes.