SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP: BALANCING PEOPLE, PROFIT, AND PLANET

Abstract

This research analyzes the impact of sustainable leadership (SL) on economic performance (EP) with particular attention to its outcomes as mediated by environmental sustainability (ES) and social welfare (SW). SL has both direct and indirect effects on organizational performance as evidenced from the data collected from different professionals in the industry using SEM technique. The results indicated that SL has a positive direct relationship with EP and the indirect effects of SL were partially mediated by ES and SW, with SL having an impact of 15% and 18% of the total effect respectively. This underscores the need to merge socio-economic and eco-friendly approaches, further cementing the idea that corporate performance is profoundly connected with societal and environmental health. Moreover, this research along with others, added to the body of knowledge by providing a model for pragmatic sustainable SL which enables self-contradicting goals of economic profit and environmental sustainability to be achieved. The study also provided evidence of construct reliability and validity using factor loadings, composite reliability, and discriminant validity. Along with highlighting the contribution to the theory, the research also suffers from some limitations such as using a cross-sectional design, focusing on one industry, and using self-reported data which can lead to bias. These limitations can guide future research to analyze the effects of time, expand the industrial scope, or look into additional mediating or moderating variables. Emphasis was placed on the need to develop the culture of SL that balances stakeholder needs to ensure sustainable value creation in the long run.

This analysis integrates sustainable leadership practices with measurable economic benefits while proposing practical approaches to sustainable corporate development.