Environmentally sustainable leader ship : A systematic literature review and future research agenda

2025/07/20 by Dan Yang, Joseph Crawford, Dan Daugaard +1

paper · doi:10.1177/03128962251350335

crossref issued 2025/07/20 · crossref published 2025/07/20 · crossref published-online 2025/07/20 · crossref created 2025/07/20 · crossref published-print 2026/08/01 · crossref deposited 2026/08/04 · crossref indexed 2026/08/04

Abstract

Environmental and climate-based concerns are essential to contemporary leadership scholarship and practice. While organisations are endeavouring to respond, ambiguity persists regarding the effective role of leaders and leadership in driving corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas. This study aims to investigate the motivations behind leaders’ engagement in sustainability and examine the influence of leaders and leadership on organisational environmental sustainability. By conducting a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol, this study identifies 123 studies on the effect of leaders and leadership on organisational environmental sustainability. Thematic analysis highlights the driving factors of leadership styles, leader values and demographics. We further categorise leader and leadership effects on environmental sustainability in employees’ environmental behaviour, environmental measurements, green innovation and environmental management and strategy. Nuanced differences between the roles of leaders and leadership on environmental sustainability are highlighted. Future research trajectories are proposed on leaders’ motivations to pursue environmental sustainability, sustainable leadership development and an increased emphasis on sustainability challenges. This review offers both theoretical and practical implications for academia and practitioners to equip leaders for environmental sustainability initiatives. JEL Classification: D23, M14

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