TRAINING TOOLS
Responsible Leadership
Responsible leadership is reshaping how tourism and hospitality organizations think about their relationship with communities, ecosystems, and the future. Understanding how it works in practice, what drives it, how it spreads across stakeholder networks, and what leaders can do differently, requires more than good intentions. It requires evidence.
This site translates four years of doctoral research into accessible knowledge for tourism operators, destination managers, government agencies, and regional tourism associations working in or with the Mekong corridor and the wider sustainable tourism landscape. Here is a snapshot of the seven modules.
1. Why the leadership models we rely on are no longer enough
From transformational to ethical leadership: why two decades of progress still left tourism exposed
2. What responsible leadership actually looks like
Six dimensions, from personal virtue to long-term vision, and what it means to practice all of them at once
3. Responsible leadership operates at three levels at once
Why individual good intentions stall without organisational systems and destination-level governance behind them
4. The Mekong Delta as a window on the world
How ecological pressure, collectivist culture, and agricultural heritage shape what responsible leadership looks like in practice.
5. How responsible leadership works
The mechanisms and social capital Bonding, bridging, and linking capital, and the three mechanisms that turn values into community outcomes
6. How change spreads: sensemaking and stakeholder dynamics
Five stages from disruption to shared meaning, and why sustainable change requires a community to understand it, not just a leader to decide it.
7. Leadership for a sustainable future
How different leadership styles map to specific SDGs, where the critical gaps are, and what needs to change
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
This work is the product of a PhD completed at the University of Newcastle, Australia, by Dr Giang NT Nguyen, supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program. It draws on six interconnected studies using systematic literature review, qualitative fieldwork, causal mechanism analysis, and sensemaking inquiry. The research examines responsible leadership from multiple levels: individual character and practice, organisational culture and stakeholder relationships, and community and ecosystem outcomes, situated in the agritourism landscapes of Vietnam's Mekong Delta.
Giang NT Nguyen, PhD researcher, University of Newcastle
Dr Heidi Wechtler, Research lead, Senior Lecturer in Management, Newcastle Business School A/Prof Po-Hsin Lai, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan
WHO IS THIS FOR
This site is designed for four audiences, each of whom will find dedicated material throughout the course modules.
Tourism operators and agritourism businesses navigating sustainable development in community-embedded contexts. Destination managers and regional tourism associations coordinating leadership across stakeholder networks. Government tourism agencies and policymakers working on sustainable tourism frameworks across the Mekong corridor and beyond. Educators and development practitioners building leadership capacity in non-Western tourism contexts.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND HERE
A seven-module mini-course that moves from the global context of responsible leadership through to the on-the-ground mechanisms, sensemaking processes, and sustainability outcomes captured in the empirical studies. Each module includes a reading note and an audio summary. A practical implications section draws together the findings for each audience. A resources page offers access to published outputs as they become available.
The seven modules at a glance:
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Why the leadership models we rely on are no longer enough
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What responsible leadership actually looks like
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Responsible leadership operates at three levels at once
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The Mekong Delta as a window on the world
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How responsible leadership works: mechanisms and social capital
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How change spreads: sensemaking and stakeholder dynamics
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Leadership for a sustainable future: SDGs and what needs to change