Kautilya’s Arthashastra as a Ready Reckoner for Organisational Behaviour: A Conceptual Framework Linking Saptanga, Rajrishi and Danda to Work Engagement, Work Motivation and Job Crafting

Abstract

Background. Kautilya’s Arthashastra is a classical Indian treatise on statecraft, administration and organised human conduct. Modern scholarship increasingly reads it as a source of ethical, governance and strategic insight for management (Ara & Garg, 2023; Muniapan, 2008; Sihag, 2004), yet very few studies connect its constructs to the mainstream positive-organisational-behaviour (OB) triad of work engagement, work motivation and job crafting (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Rudolph et al., 2017).

Aim. This conceptual article re-reads the Arthashastra as a ready reckoner for present-day OB and links its core constructs — Saptanga, Rajrishi, Vijigishu, Danda and Mitra — explicitly to work engagement, work motivation and job crafting.

Method. The article synthesises the Arthashastra literature with the Job Demands–Resources model, self-determination theory and the job-crafting literature. Saptanga elements are mapped onto contemporary organisational structures and behavioural antecedents; Rajrishi and Vijigishu are interpreted as ethical–welfare-oriented and achievement-oriented leadership prototypes; Danda is treated as a proto-theory of organisational justice; and Mitra is repurposed as inter-organisational OB. Six propositions consolidate the mappings for future empirical testing with established instruments (UWES-17, WEIMS, JCS).

Results. The framework yields three integrated contributions. First, it positions the Arthashastra as a genuine multi-level OB text — individual, organisational and inter-organisational — that resonates with, but is not reducible to, ethical leadership, servant leadership, organisational justice and JD-R theory. Second, it provides an indigenous conceptual scaffolding for the positive-OB triad, linking Rajrishi and Vijigishu leader behaviour to intrinsic and identified motivation, Danda-based justice to internalised regulation, and Saptanga- and Mitra-consistent design to structural, social and challenging job-crafting behaviours. Third, six propositions offer a testable research agenda that can be examined with UWES, WEIMS and JCS in Indian and cross-cultural samples.

Conclusion. The Arthashastra offers a coherent, indigenous framework for understanding engagement, motivation and job crafting in contemporary organisations, extends Indian OB scholarship beyond isolated Western imports, and opens a concrete empirical agenda for HR practitioners and researchers.Keywords: Linguistic equity, multilingualism, NEP 2020, Indian school system, pedagogical practices