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Boeske, J. Leadership towards Sustainability. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/48734 (accessed on 04 July 2024).
Boeske J. Leadership towards Sustainability. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/48734. Accessed July 04, 2024.
Boeske, Jane. "Leadership towards Sustainability" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/48734 (accessed July 04, 2024).
Boeske, J. (2023, September 01). Leadership towards Sustainability. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/48734
Boeske, Jane. "Leadership towards Sustainability." Encyclopedia. Web. 01 September, 2023.
Leadership towards Sustainability
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su151612626

Leadership and sustainability have been researched and examined concurrently. There is considerable knowledge regarding sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership as separate areas of research and as effective leadership styles that facilitate the achievement of sustainability outcomes. While these research streams have developed alongside each other, there is limited knowledge about the similarities and differences between each of these three leadership approaches.

sustainable leadership sustainability leadership environmental leadership

1. Introduction

Organizations are facing environmental, social, and financial challenges, and leaders need to respond to and manage these differing priorities to enhance and create value in their firms. Accordingly, the concepts of leadership and sustainability have been studied extensively over the last 30 years. The literature is wide-ranging, with discussions on sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership linking a variety of interconnected leader behaviors, practices, and skills that achieve sustainability outcomes. However, an examination of the leadership literature reveals a lack of agreement and understanding of the types of leadership necessary for positive sustainability [1][2][3][4]. Scholars have attempted to resolve this problem. Hallinger and Suriyankietkaew (2018) [5] conducted a large-scale systematic review of sustainable leadership, thus providing frameworks for scholars to facilitate research direction. Knight and Paterson (2018) [6] empirically investigated sustainability leadership and identified ten critical and ten prominent behaviors of sustainability leaders in five competency groupings. Their research refined a behavioral competency model that sustainability leaders require to respond effectively to sustainability challenges [6]. Boeske and Murray (2022) [7] take a step towards integrating and identifying the types of leadership required to achieve positive sustainability and develop an integrated framework of intellectual capital and sustainability leadership practices. Researchers synthesized the existing sustainability leadership literature and identified and clarified leadership constructs [7]. Eustachio, Caldana, and Leal Filho (2023) [8] (p. 7) conducted a bibliometric analysis of sustainability leadership to extend previous research and provided a definition of sustainability leadership: ‘as the person who motivates and includes followers in order to overcome sustainability barriers, addressing challenges, that meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations’. Althnayan, Alarifi, Bajaba, and Alsabban (2022) [9] researched social learning theory and stakeholder theory to study the relationship between environmental transformational leadership and sustainable performance. They found that environmental transformational leadership positively predicts environmental organizational citizenship behavior, leading to improved organizational sustainability performance [9]. By taking an altogether different approach, researchers aim to identify and compare the similarities and differences between sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership, specifically to address areas of overlap in the current literature. There is a shortage of research exploring the relationships between sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership, and as such, researchers will seek to understand these three leadership approaches that contribute to the implementation of sustainability initiatives and influence sustainability practices, thus filling a gap in the current literature.
Research on organizations implementing sustainability into their organizations has highlighted multiple benefits [10][11][12]. Not only are cost savings recognized [13][14][15], other benefits such as increased productivity [16], improved financial performance [17][18][19][20], increased employee morale [21][22]; improved organizational commitment [23]; increased efficiencies and reduced environmental impact [11][18][24]; and improved public image [23][25] among others, have been accomplished. The foundation for implementing sustainability practices depends on leadership [21]. Organizational change, improved performance, and growth depend on how leaders implement innovative strategies and processes [26][27][28]. Therefore, leadership is a critical factor that contributes to organizational success by setting direction and achieving organizational goals, creating a vision, and mobilizing resources. Thus, leaders require a variety of behaviors, competencies, and skills to achieve organizational success [29], particularly when implementing sustainability strategies.
Sustainability problems require leaders to direct, plan, manage, implement revised strategies, collaborate with employees, and mobilize resources to deliver desired sustainability objectives. As such, leadership is crucial in guiding employees and all stakeholders towards achieving the organization’s sustainability goals (inclusive of social, and environmental concerns) [30]. Leaders enable and inspire change, encourage novelty and innovation, and assist organizational members to make sense of their environment [28][31]. Leaders use symbolic narratives/stories [32] to emphasize key values and build support for new strategies and policies with stakeholders [33][34][35][36]. Leaders directly influence employees and organizational systems such as formal policies and procedures that determine the structure and culture of an organization [37][38][39][40]. Collectively, leaders help to realize organizational goals, create efficiencies, and pursue growth opportunities [20][37]. Eide et al. (2020, p. 2) [26] identify that top managers who are personally motivated and value sustainability will include integrated sustainability strategies in their firms. Moreover, innovation and change are driven by top management/leaders [41], that help to facilitate an organizational climate where firms can be a positive force for social change [42]. Consequently, understanding the types of leadership necessary for positive sustainability presents significant value for economies.

2. Framework

Sustainability practices present both risks and opportunities, and organizations will need clear and direct leadership to define how business is to be conducted to improve operational processes. It revealed a growing body of knowledge about the three separate leadership approaches, namely sustainable leadership, sustainability leadership, and environmental leadership, and aims to integrate results from numerous studies that have categorized leadership behaviors. Researchers have classified the articles as they pertain to leaders (managers/CEOs) of small, medium, and large firms that described leadership behaviors that enhanced and facilitated the implementation of sustainability initiatives, goals, and objectives. The level of analysis relates to individual leaders. The paper is organized around the integrative ‘leadership towards sustainability’ framework (see Figure 1), which illustrates the leadership behaviors required to influence individuals, teams, and work units towards achieving sustainability goals. The framework will be further discussed below. The world is facing great opportunities and change, and hence, leaders need to learn how to lead effectively and understand the behaviors and practices required so that sustainability outcomes can be achieved. The case for better understanding which types of leadership behaviors and practices promote sustainable enterprises is a strong one, and researchers aim to synthesize and progress research by integrating similar and unique key leadership findings.
Sustainability 15 12626 g001
Figure 1. Leadership towards sustainability: a framework that compares similarities and differences among sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership. Source: own development.

3. Determining the Concepts of Leadership and Sustainability

3.1. Leadership

Researchers have developed many different definitions of leadership, and despite these differences, they share common elements. These elements are described as follows: (i) leadership is a group phenomenon as it involves both leaders and followers; (ii) leadership involves interpersonal influence to achieve organizational goals [43]; and (iii) leadership is goal-directed and action-oriented [43][44][45]. Various studies have defined the personality/attributes, style, and nature of leadership, developing various models from different perspectives, each with their own insights as well as limitations [40][46][47][48]. Collectively, these leadership theories provide a rich understanding of what is a complex concept.
Leadership is a dynamic ‘process of influence’ towards the achievement of goals and objectives [45][49]. Leaders provide inspiration, create opportunities, possess strong personal values, coach, and motivate. Leaders play a central role in guiding employees or group members towards goal achievement [36][45][50][51]. Leaders use appropriate interpersonal behaviors and styles to facilitate and guide individuals and groups toward task accomplishment (step-by-step programs of change), as well as encourage trust and commitment to promote adaptive short- and long-term change [49][52][53][54]. Leadership is essential to promote innovation and instill accountability towards sustainability goals [55]. There are many definitions of leadership, and researchers concentrate on leadership behavioral processes and practices. As such, the focus will be on what leaders do rather than who they are! Hence, within the context , ‘leadership’ will be defined as a process of influencing the activities of internal and external stakeholders who challenge the status quo, develop a clear vision, develop a forward plan (including organizational goals), make decisions, engage staff (collaboratively), and consider both short-term and long-term objectives [2][8][44][45][56][57].

3.2. Sustainability

The terms corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable productivity, and sustainability have been used interchangeably throughout the past seventy years, and each of these terms has different meanings [9][58][59]. In considering these different terms and definitions, ‘sustainability’ is the best term for the purpose of this research. Quinn and Dalton (2009) [60] (p. 21) describe ‘sustainability’ as an organization’s commitment to activities that demonstrate the inclusion of social and environmental concerns in daily business operations. Burawat (2019) [61] (p. 1018) concurs and argues that corporate sustainability encompasses environmental, social, and economic performance. Iqbal, Ahmad, and Halim (2020) [62] agree and argue that sustainability has a close association with corporate social responsibility, and this effective integration of ecological, environmental, and social performance provides a competitive advantage to firms. Sustainability has also been described as each of us becoming aware of choices that influence the intricate balance of the earth’s social, ecological, and economic systems [2][63]. Sustainability research examines how organizations are encouraged to be more mindful of their long-term roles in the world’s ecology and communities, with an emphasis on conserving and protecting natural resources [2][60][64]. As mentioned above, the term ‘sustainability’ will be used in this research and will be defined as an ‘organization’s ability to meet existing business and stakeholder needs while maintaining and enhancing the natural and human resources needed for the future’ [9][65][66]. This includes the triple bottom line concepts of social, environmental, and financial dimensions (balanced accordingly), which aim to improve resource efficiency and conserve energy consumption, as well as the adoption of organizational processes to meet sustainability goals [66][67][68][69]. For further information regarding these concepts, refer to discussions by [9][58][59][70][71]. There are significant sustainability challenges confronting leaders, and as such, a comprehensive review of the sustainable, sustainability, and environmental leadership literature is required.

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