Merits, Volume 5, Issue 4 (December 2025) – 6 articles

In the ESG era, the hospitality sector faces an urgent need to transform its governance models. However, a conceptual gap exists regarding the specific mechanisms that drive this transformation. This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review to propose a novel integrative framework. Unlike previous reviews that analyze sustainable leadership and ESG governance in isolation, this paper positions sustainable leadership as the central mechanism that catalyzes the systemic integration of ESG criteria into the sector’s organizational culture and strategy. The proposed framework articulates how this leadership style facilitates a cultural, strategic, and operational transformation by balancing economic performance with social well-being and environmental protection. Specifically, within the hospitality context, sustainable leadership is shown to be key in fostering organizational resilience, responsible innovation, and participatory governance. The analysis also identifies critical barriers to implementation, such as cultural resistance, the lack of clear metrics, and the need for specialized leadership training. The unique contribution of this article is to offer a conceptual model that articulates the causal relationship between leadership and applied ESG governance, presenting sustainable leadership not merely as a management style, but as the fundamental component for building resilient and legitimate hospitality organizations in the long term. Full article

This research explores how coalitions of leaders who score high in the Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—rebuild moral architectures in organizations to consolidate power, suppress dissent, and secure their rule. Contrary to work that has focused predominantly on individual toxic leaders, this research examines the collective processes that emerge when multiple high-DT-scoring leaders coalesce and unify their moral leadership front. Adopting a qualitative, article-based document analysis methodology, this study synthesizes and critiques evidence from 55 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025. Thematic analysis identified three fundamental dynamics through which Dark Triad leaders collectively exercise dominance. The first, the Ethics Cartel, involves the construction of a shared moral façade that legitimates power and shields wrongdoing. The second, Mutual Cover, outlines forms of mutual protection in which leaders shield one another from accountability and scrutiny. The third, Cultural Capture, outlines processes through which organizational culture is increasingly reconfigured such that “ethics” are structured to favor leadership over employees or wider stakeholders. This study illustrates how these coalitions cross over into individual transgressions, creating systemic risk that warps the fabric of organizational culture. Employees are confronted with a work culture that positions ethics as a means of developing survival adaptive mechanisms, such as silence, withdrawal, or compliance. These processes not only harm psychological safety and break trust but also disable accountability mechanisms established to maintain integrity. This study contributes to the study of leadership and organizational ethics by framing ethics not as merely an individual moral stance but as a collective instrument of power. It calls for more attention to the risks that follow collaboration among toxic leaders and for governance arrangements that address the organizational and systemic consequences of these unions. By situating these findings within the broader debate on power, people, and performance, this paper aligns with the focus of the Special Issue “Power, People, and Performance: Rethinking Organizational Leadership and Management” by showing how collective Dark Triad leadership distorts organizational performance outcomes while reshaping power relations in ways that undermine people’s trust and well-being. These insights extend Alowais & Suliman’s findings, highlighting the systemic feedback loops sustaining ethical distortion. Full article

The nonprofit sector provides roughly one in ten jobs in the United States. Yet retirement benefits remain uneven and often inadequate compared to those in the public and private sectors. This article examines disparities in nonprofit access to retirement plans and analyzes how organizational and community characteristics shape retirement benefit provision. The study uses panel regression approaches with data from the NCCS Core PC files and the U.S. Census. The analysis shows that most nonprofits do not offer retirement plans, and those that do often contribute only minimally. Larger organizations and those with higher levels of donative revenue are more likely to offer and contribute to retirement plans. By contrast, the arts and humanities nonprofits and nonprofits in communities with lower educational attainment are significantly less likely to do so. Racial and geographic disparities also persist. Nonprofits in whiter communities are more likely to offer plans, though not necessarily at higher contribution levels. These findings underscore the need for targeted policy and philanthropic interventions. Supporting under-resourced organizations in providing competitive retirement benefits can promote workforce stability and advance equity across the nonprofit sector. Full article

Employee turnover remains a major concern for businesses globally. In Western contexts, the concept of psychological contract breach (PCB) is often employed to understand this phenomenon. This paper takes Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) sector as a case study to explore the factors that support employee retention in their jobs, despite reported poor working conditions and associated issues in garment factories. Data were gathered among 400 RMG workers and linear regression analysis was used to answer this question. We demonstrated that while PCB was positively related to turnover intention, its impact on the retention of Bangladeshi garment workers was relatively minimal. Qualitative data showed how cultural and social factors distinct from known Western retention causes shaped our findings. The evidence presented in this paper sheds new light on employee retention in a Bangladeshi context, where socio-cultural issues challenge the PCB theory, which was developed largely based on Western economies. Full article

Medical doctors are at risk of poor mental health, linked to their working conditions. However, little distinction is made between private and public practice where working conditions differ. This review examines the relationship between perceived working conditions, psychological health, and patient care among doctors in private practice, considering how differences between private and public practice impact these outcomes and the implications of working across sectors. We conducted a systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The search encompassed Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, and Medline. Included studies were coded in line with the Job Demands–Resources model. The initial search identified 309 papers, with 14 being selected for final full-text review. Higher job demands were associated with higher levels of burnout, while social resources, job crafting, and healthy coping mechanisms were linked with lower levels of burnout. Working in private practice was associated with higher demands. Doctors in private practice had more negative perceptions of performance, less satisfactory leadership, and a lack of feedback. However, private practice also offered better work–life balance, more control, and greater reward. Notably, no study was found that examined the implications of dual roles where doctors worked across both sectors, which is common. A clear definition of private practice as well as a more granular understanding of work-related risks posed to private practice and dual roles should be the focus of future research. Full article