IMPACT OF SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN CHINA’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Abstract

The textile sector in China is a pivotal element in the international economy, but it also faces mounting demands for sustainable practices in the context of competitive pressures and labor-intensive nature. This calls for sustainable leadership that has become a necessary requirement for improving the performance of employees. This research aims to explore the effect of sustainable leadership style, specifically sustainable autocratic leadership, sustainable participative leadership, and sustainable laissez-faire leadership, towards the performance of employees in the textile sector in the Chinese economy, using sustainable organizational commitment. The research tables a positivist paradigm and employs a deductive perspective, specifically adopting the cross-section study approach in relation to a primary investigation focusing on employees working in textile companies in the context of the Chinese economy. The research makes use of the PLS-SEM with the help of the SmartPLS. These results indicate that sustainable laissez-faire leadership has a strong and positive impact on both organizational commitment and performance, as well as organizational commitment having a positive impact on performance. Sustainable participative leadership has been found to influence performance positively, but it has been negatively related to organizational commitment, indicating some context or culture prevailing in labor-intensive textile settings. In fact, sustainable autocratic leadership has been found not to influence performance or organizational commitment negatively or positively. Finally, regression analysis indicates that organizational commitment has played a significant role as a mediator between sustainable laissez-faire leadership and performance, whereas the mediating role of autocratic as well as participative leadership has been weak and insignificant. This paper makes several contributions to the existing body of literature on sustainable leadership, including the comparison of various leadership practices and their role within a sustainability paradigm and establishing the pivotal role of psychological commitment. In terms of implications, the results are important to textile organizations in China and developing countries, and the role of autonomy-supportive and sustainability-focused leadership practices.