"Ethical Leadership and Sensemaking in Volunteer-Based Transient Organizations: A Cross-Level Projective Case Study" címmel megjelent Bodor-Eranus Eliza, Szvetelszky Zsuzsanna, Méhes Nóra és Lázár Beáta cikke a Business Ethics and Leadership folyóiratban.

Absztrakt:

Ethical leadership in volunteer-based transient organizations is an important but still insufficiently explored topic within business ethics and leadership, especially in contexts characterized by temporary participation, fluid membership, and limited formal safeguards. Previous research has typically examined temporary organizing, volunteering, trust, and leadership in separate streams, leaving the ethical and psychological functions of leadership in volunteer-based transient organizations insufficiently integrated. This study aims to examine how leadership is perceived and interpreted as a mechanism of sensemaking, trust mediation, and ethical governance in a volunteer-based transient organization. The empirical analysis draws on three focus group discussions conducted in Hungary in 2024 with 18 participants, including volunteers, team leaders, and coordinators involved in the organization of large-scale events. The study applies a qualitative case study design using focus group discussions supported by projective techniques and analyzes the material through thematic interpretation across organizational levels. The findings show that leadership is perceived not only as a coordinating function but also as a central interpretive mechanism that reduces uncertainty and structures organizational reality for participants. Among volunteers, leadership is associated primarily with filtering tensions and protecting participants from organizational difficulties, indicating that trust is often built through selective visibility rather than through full transparency. Across organizational levels, the analysis identifies differentiated trust structures: volunteers rely mainly on experience-based and immediate trust, whereas leadership-level trust appears as a cumulative form of organizational capital grounded in repeated collaboration. The study also demonstrates that the core tension of the organization lies in the coexistence of project-based coordination and experience-oriented volunteer participation, which generates a persistent need for leadership to balance structure, inclusion, and flexibility. The article concludes that leadership in transient organizations should be understood not merely as a functional mechanism of coordination but as an ethical practice of managing meaning, asymmetry, and participation, with implications for both future research and the management of volunteer-based project organizations.

A cikk elérhető itt:

Bodor-Eranus, E., Szvetelszky, Z., Méhes, N., & Lázár, B. (2026). Ethical leadership and sensemaking in volunteer-based transient organizations: A cross-level projective case study. Business Ethics and Leadership, 10(3), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.61093/bel.10(3).1-26.2026