Leadership and the Virtue of Humanity: Conceptual Clarity, Systematic Review, and Future Research Agenda

Abstract Humanity – the virtue enabling meaningful human connection – is vital to the leadership we need to survive our polycrisis context. As a prerequisite to sustainable human community, the virtue of humanity is considered universal. It has been claimed as a ‘higher‐order virtue’, comprised of and enacted by – but irreducible to – a suite of ‘lower‐order virtues’ such as compassion and kindness. This claim is evident in widely‐adopted virtues catalogues, but we lack consensus on how humanity is defined, and which attributes qualify as its virtuous dimensions. To address this, we develop a robust definition of humanity and apply criteria distilled from virtue ethics to theorize the lower‐order virtues that comprise its virtuous dimensions. We thus determine the virtuous dimensions of humanity include empathy, compassion, forgiveness, love, kindness, and generosity. Our processual model illustrates how, when expressed by leaders and followers, these virtuous dimensions represent the fullest expression of the higher‐order virtue of humanity and sustain human community. Our systematic review details what is known empirically about each virtuous dimension of humanity in relation to leadership. Drawing on this, we propose a research agenda to advance understanding of how the virtue of humanity might enable the leadership needed today and into the future.