Inclusive leadership: new age leadership to foster organizational inclusion

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between inclusive leadership (IL) and organizational inclusion (OI) in literature and explores the contribution of IL and OI in human resources development (HRD). Design/methodology/approach The systematic literature review was undertaken from peer-reviewed journals. In total, 68 articles were critically analyzed to be included in the review highlighting the relationship between IL and OI. Findings The paper provides insights into leader behaviors that foster IL and how it differs from other styles of leadership. The paper also proposes a theoretical model to show the relationship between IL and OI. Practical implications The study will facilitate creating awareness in practitioners and academicians who think inclusion is mostly concerned with disabled learners, which is misleading. The paper will help the concerned stakeholders to formulate HRD practices to foster an inclusive culture at work. Originality/value The paper explores an area less researched and is among the few review papers investigating through the relationship between IL and OI and how they impact HRD practices in an organizational set-up.