**1. Introduction**

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is characterised by rapid changes on socio-economic, political and cultural levels. It brings increasing technology-based human–machine interaction, growing digitalisation, and increasing use of smart technologies. These changes also bring about a change in workplaces cultures [1]. Individuals are challenged with understanding complexities, managing them constructively and redefining the meaning of work [2]. Rapid changes, however, cause stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety, frustration and sadness, as well as disorientation, insecurities and ambiguities [3]. Leaders are encouraged to provide guidance and leadership to address new challenges and support employees to cope positively and constructively [4]. Positive emotions in leadership can support salutogenesis and coping [5].

Salutogenesis is concerned with developing, maintaining and increasing the health of individuals [6–8]. The main construct of salutogenesis, sense of coherence (SOC), is a resource and life orientation which supports individuals as a coping mechanism and fosters health, even in stressful situations [9]. SOC consists of three components [6] that will be explored in this study: comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness.

Coping (C) can be portrayed as the capacity with which leaders handle an unpleasant occasion [10]. Leaders perceive SOC as a useful and functional guide to behaviour, which gives SOC a prominent role in C in the 4IR context. SOC directs leaders to focus on a specific set of stimuli out of all the possible stimuli with which they could possibly cope. By emphasising important elements of the environment, emotions motivate cognitive and behavioural reactions. Leaders are only likely to perceive a 4IR challenge when emotions are evoked at the same time. Additionally, SOC and compassionate love (CL) prepare leaders for action in response to stimuli [11,12].

The concept of compassionate love (CL) has gained interest in leadership studies [13], highlighting that the concept impacts positively on empowerment, authenticity, and stewardship, providing direction to employees [14]. Compassionate love also increases empathy for others in addition to authentic listening, nurturance and caring skills [15–17]. CL embodies and enacts the qualities of love, altruism, integrity, humility and wisdom combined with an appreciation and empowerment of others [18]. CL is core to the development of a compassionate and person-centred organisation and requires senior leaders to clearly articulate the core values and vision of the organisation and to ensure that they resonate in all the self-organising groups within the system [18]. CL supports leaders by helping them cope with job demands, manage stress and conflicts, set pro-social goals and connect with their employees and stakeholders [17].

The findings of Lloyd [19] indicate that higher levels of CL and SOC were both associated with lower stress. The findings also indicate that CL is positively associated with adaptive C strategies, and both CL and SOC are negatively associated with avoidance-oriented strategies. SOC and maladaptive C emerged as significant predictors of perceived stress in subsequent regression analyses. Interventions or support mechanisms that enhance SOC and reduce reliance on maladaptive C may decrease vulnerability to stress in leaders.

#### *1.1. Aim of This Article*

The aim of this article is to present the perspectives of leaders on SOC, CL and C and interrelationships that exist therein with regard to their professional work and leadership during transition into the 4IR in different cultural contexts.

Since the literature on the 4IR often focuses on the negative side—technological challenges, fears and rapid, incomprehensible complexities—this study aims to focus on positive aspects in terms of how leaders across the globe cope with these challenges. Leaders were asked about SOC, C and CL in terms of the transition into the 4IR. The leading research question for the findings presented here is: how do SOC and CL support C in leaders during transition into the 4IR? The contribution of this study is to investigate SOC and CL in relation to C, and thereby close a void in the literature.

The relationship between SOC and C is well established in the literature, as well as between self-compassion, SOC, and C strategies, but SOC and CL have not been investigated in relation to C in leaders. Thus, the authors will present the core concepts of this study in more depth.

#### *1.2. The Transition into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)*

Leaders face workplace changes and rapid development, increased technologisation, digitalisation, smart-system use, artificial intelligence, questions about the meaning of work, innovation and creativity in 4IR contexts [20,21]. These changes pose challenges to organisations and societies [22]. Magubane [23] suggests that love needs to be part of the transition into the 4IR. Illouz [24,25] sees changes regarding love within the 4IR taking on modern shapes, such as alternate conceptual and relationship changes that are mediated through technological interactions or robotics.

Chandsoda and Salsing [26] emphasise that the 4IR requires people to incorporate sympathy and participation into human relations, work environments and leadership. Van der Hoven [27]

emphasises that individuals ought to re-learn how to detach from the advanced world and how to reconnect compassionately with self, others and nature. CL means reconnecting with one's "true self" and nature, collaborating with others, disengaging from the computerised world, tuning into one's inward voice and achieving a state of flow and imagination [27]. Tu and Thien [28] recommend that the fundamental standards of Buddhism offer assistance to leaders through the 4IR, by promoting mindfulness, contemplation, love and trust as basic values.

Sun [29] suggests that organisations ought to utilise "love competition". "Love competition" is a competitive attitude based on CL, shrewdness and market-orientated social skills. Fabritius [30] contends that stress levels, potential conflict, and work insecurity, alluding to "fear of unemployment and trouble of reemployment," are rising [31,32]. Different trends in the 4IR, such as instable working conditions, automation, and fear of loss of work lead to poor health and negative feelings, such as anxiety [33–35]. How do leaders in different cultural contexts cope with the transition into the 4IR?

### *1.3. Salutogenesis, Sense of Coherence and Leadership*

Leaders increasingly focus on promoting health and well-being in employees in order to improve the performance of organisations [36]. Salutogenesis has become a favourable approach to increasing health and well-being (source), exploring factors affecting and implementing programmes supporting employee health [37–42]. According to Antonovsky [6], health and well-being are developed through SOC. SOC is a global life orientation that supports individuals in comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness—leading to consistent congruence and harmony within an individual. The more pronounced an individual's SOC, the healthier an individual is [43].

Comprehensibility refers to one's understanding of the world based on the ability to process familiar and unfamiliar stimuli as ordered, structured and consistent; manageability, relates to how one copes with challenges and whether one believes that challenges can be solved through the use of resources; meaningfulness relates to how an individual is motivated through the construction of meaning in life and the extent to which life makes sense [7].

SOC supports individuals in focusing on their C strategies and helps leaders to stay healthy in stressful situations [42,44]. SOC prevents mental illness [45] and helps individuals to cope within complex, international and intercultural settings [46]. A high SOC impacts positively on performance, achievement, success and the ability to manage conflicts and intercultural communication [43].

Individuals with a high SOC are more likely to perceive the leader as a good listener, and as an engaging and encouraging intuitive thinker. They also include employees in decision-making and problem-solving and foster participation. This, in turn, leads to employees who are energetic, enthusiastic, proud, inspired and happily engaged in their work [46,47]. Compassionate leadership impacts positively on employees, encouraging creativity in problem solving and a high level of engagement.

Organisations that advance and improve working conditions in terms of physical, mental and social well-being, are more likely to have employees perceiving their leaders' management style as positive (i.e., manages who are supportive, consider their concerns, empower them, and listen, including co-operating with them and providing counselling) [46–48]. These employees demonstrate high levels of psychological connection, engagement and performance [47].

SOC can be applied at different system levels, including at the individual, group, organisational and societal levels [49], and is a source of compassionate leadership that supports the development of a strong SOC [50]. Recent leadership research shows that love—defined as a complex concept of compassion, humanity, care and unconditional, compassionate love—impacts positively on leaders in terms of coping with work challenges, such as changes faced during the transition into the 4IR. Harry [51] provides insights, showing the relationship between individuals' wellness attributes (sense of coherence, emotional intelligence and burnout) and their resiliency capacities (career adaptability and hardiness). Organisations need to understand the complex processes involved in coping during transition into the 4IR [52] and the importance of fostering SOC.

#### *1.4. Coping and Compassionate Love in Leaders*

Leaders could potentially perceive a 4IR challenge, appraise it as such and cope with it without necessarily experiencing intense feelings or emotions. C with emotions includes the idea of C with the leaders' own emotions beyond emotion regulation. Emotion regulation includes conscious efforts to modulate the intensity of leaders' emotions (for example by avoiding emotion-eliciting 4IR situations or by reappraising the meaning of a 4IR situation) [53]. In contrast, C with emotions can include behaviours elicited by an emotion, regardless of whether the behaviours are intended to regulate the emotional experience [54].

Leaders respond differently to emotions [54,55]. The differences in how leaders cope with emotional states can have implications for their long-term psychological and physical health [54]. Machin, Adkins, Crosby, Farrell, and Mirabito [56] postulate that C efforts are actions taken to protect, maintain, or restore well-being. Future-focused and action-oriented challenges promote anticipatory and preventative C strategies. Rather than reacting to immediate 4IR stressors, future-oriented C strategies instead seek to protect the leader before harm occurs. Understanding the goal behind a C tactic also helps in judging coping effectiveness, a troubling issue in contemporary research [57].

Love has been ignored in Western writing on leadership for a long time [58]. However, Barsade and Gibson [59] mention the exceptional role of CL in working environments: CL affects the demeanour of employees, their accomplishments, the organisational culture and the employee relationships. Positive feelings have an immense and positive impact on employees and their performance [60–62]. Several researchers [63,64] have indicated that compassionate love is associated with care, concern und thriving in connection with others. CL is connected to kindness, affection, open-mindedness, caring and kind-heartedness [63]. CL further energises an attitude of humbleness, gratitude, forgiveness and selflessness in leaders within the work environment [14]. CL needs new research and detailed descriptions in organisational contexts [65].

Van Dierendonck and Patterson [14] describe CL as inspiring, meaningful and optimal social functioning in organizations. CL fosters encouragement, genuineness, stewardship and leadership. Barsade and O'Neill [66] state a universal conviction that employment relationships do not contain adequate deepness to be named "love" relationships. Other researchers counter-argue that social relationships at work transfer in-depth emotive encounters and are full of meaning [67]. Savickas [68] suggests that CL at work can significantly affect careers and happiness at work, while O'Neill [69] suggests that CL is a critical factor in employment relationships, which include caring, compassion and gentleness. Emotions perform an exceptional role at work [66] and CL shields negative emotions, such as fear [70]. CL is often referred to in work contexts with regard to compassionate leaders [71].

Rapport [72] states that love within the work environment can be depicted as a frame of moral engagement which goes past culture and signifies a collective culture of morals. CL is often based on values which cultivate natural inspiration—such as spiritual well-being or a calling—compassion and joy, meaning making and sense making, hope, faith and altruistic love (including care, concern, and appreciation for both organisational and employee needs) [73]. CL leads to the removal of fears related to anger, failure, selfishness, guilt or worry [74] and increases vitality and the feeling of being lively within the working environment [75,76].

CL encourages meaningful and optimal human functioning, impacting on the leader's propensity towards virtues, such as humility, gratitude, forgiveness and altruism. The salutogenic approach includes the effectiveness of C processes. It concentrates on what differentiates "successful copers," even in the most stressful of situations, from others and, thus, seeks out personality traits and protective factors that are related to successful C in stressful situations. Work within the framework of this approach mainly involves SOC [7]. Leaders comprehensibility could to a large extent be constructed by their own thoughts and theories. Manageability can be achieved by active information-seeking strategies, social support and C, including positive reinterpretation of the 4IR context. Meaningfulness may be central for quality of life and is achieved through CL and close relations, as well as by work. SOC integrates essential parts of the stress/C model (comprehensibility, manageability) and of CL (meaning).

#### **2. Research Methodology**

#### *2.1. Research Paradigm*

This study is anchored in the qualitative research paradigm and uses a hermeneutical and interpretative framework for analysis and interpretation [77,78]. Hermeneutics are defined as the philosophy and interpretation of meaning [79], focusing on the meaning of a text or a text analogue [80].

#### *2.2. Sampling*

During the sampling process, purposeful sampling and snowball sampling were used [81]. The researchers used purposeful sampling to ensure that the sample can relate to the research topics. Participants were asked to respond to the questionnaire and refer to their own experiences with regard to the selected concepts. Information about the participants is given in the Findings section. The sample consisted of 22 individuals—9 females and 13 males. The age ranged between 33 and 80 years. Interviewees referred to their religion/belief as follows: seven were Christians; four Roman Catholics; two Protestants; one each atheist, agnostic, atheist/agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, and Jesuit; one indicated no religious affiliation.

The sample was classed as "international" due to the fact that leaders came from various countries, and national and cultural backgrounds and all acted in international projects, cooperations and networks. Ten of the participants spoke German as their first language, five English, two Afrikaans and one participant each spoke Japanese, Tswana, Hebrew and Romanian. In terms of nationality, the sample consisted of eight Germans, five US citizens, two Japanese, two South Africans, and one participant each with White, German-Iranian, Israeli, Romanian and Bavarian origin (Bundesland (provincial state) in Germany). In terms of educational background, the participants held the foillowing degrees: nine doctoral degrees, six master's degrees, three "Diploma" degrees (Diplom degrees are equivalent to master's degrees in Germany), two post-doctoral degrees, one national diploma, and one high school certificate. The sample further included seven professors, three academics, three directors, two consultants, one professor/entrepreneur, one entrepreneur, one executive manager, one project manager, one teacher, one psychologist, and one educational officer. All of the leaders held leadership positions in educational fields and had held them for at least two years. All leaders find themselves at "the edge of the 4IR" as organisations in which the leaders' work aim towards a transition into the 4IR using digitalisation and smart systems. Some parts of the work are automated and several organisations are starting to collect and analyse big data—all signs of a transition into the 4IR.

#### *2.3. Data Collection and Analysis*

Data were collected through structured questionnaires [82] that were sent out to the participants via email. Participants filled in the online questionnaires and sent the filled-in questionnaires back to the researcher. The questionnaires included questions referring to sense of coherence, comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness, coping, leadership and compassionate love (see Appendix A). The interviewees indicated the lengths of time they took to fill in the questionnaires. The time ranged from 90 to 240 min.

Data were analysed through the five-step process of content analysis by Terre Blanche, Durrheim, and Painter [83]: (1) familiarisation and immersion, (2) inducing themes, (3) coding, (4) elaboration, and (5) interpretation and checking to ensure data quality. Interviews were coded and categorised by using a deductive research interpretation process, focusing on the constructs of SOC, CL and C. Researchers used an intersubjective validation approach, comparing and discussing the process and codes [84].

The authors considered the usual quality criteria for qualitative research, such as conformability, credibility, transferability and dependability, as well as rigor [85]. These quality criteria were addressed through all the phases of research. In terms of ethical considerations, all participants participated voluntarily, were informed about this study, its aim and purpose and consented to this study.
