Exploring the Lived Meaning of Ethical Governance Among Corporate Leaders in the Indonesian Financial Services Sector

Abstract

Corporate governance has evolved from a compliance-driven structure into a multidimensional field that intertwines ethics, accountability, and strategic leadership. However, existing scholarship has given limited attention to the ways corporate leaders personally experience governance as a lived moral and strategic process. Despite extensive theoretical and quantitative research, little is known about the subjective meanings leaders assign to ethical decision-making and accountability within organizational contexts. This study therefore seeks to address this gap by providing a clear phenomenological account of how governance is interpreted and enacted by senior executives. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA), the study collected data through in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior leaders across multiple industries. The data were then analyzed thematically to identify essential experiential structures shaping ethical reflection, shareholder pressure, and leadership accountability. Findings indicate that leaders experience governance as an ongoing negotiation between personal integrity and organizational pragmatism. Governance is understood not merely as a compliance requirement but as a dynamic moral encounter involving constant reconciliation between individual conscience and institutional expectations. The study contributes to corporate governance theory by reframing governance as an interpretive and experiential practice rooted in human consciousness. The implications suggest that cultivating reflective awareness among leaders can enhance ethical integrity, strengthen organizational trust, and promote more sustainable governance practices.