Using crossed homomorphisms, we show that the category of weak representations (respectively admissible representations) of Lie–Rinehart algebras (respectively Leibniz pairs) is a left module category over the monoidal category of representations of Lie algebras. In particular, the corresponding bifunctor of monoidal categories is established to give new weak representations (respectively admissible representations) of Lie–Rinehart algebras (respectively Leibniz pairs). This generalises and unifies various existing constructions of representations of many Lie algebras by using this new bifunctor. We construct some crossed homomorphisms in different situations and use our actions of monoidal categories to recover some known constructions of representations of various Lie algebras and to obtain new representations for generalised Witt algebras and their Lie subalgebras. The cohomology theory of crossed homomorphisms between Lie algebras is introduced and used to study linear deformations of crossed homomorphisms.
