Sustainability-focused leadership and pro-environmental behavior in SMEs: through the lens of conservation of resources theory

Katarzyna Piwowar-Sulej and Qaisar Iqbal

Central European Management Journal, 2025, vol. 34, issue 1, 166-182

Abstract: PurposeBased on the conservation of resources theory (COR), we examined how sustainability-focused leadership (SFL) influences pro-environmental innovative behaviors (PEIBs) by exploring employee well-being (EWB) as a mediating mechanism. Thus, the study fills the existing gap in research devoted to the impact of leadership styles on PEIBs.Design/methodology/approachWe used the survey method and collected data from 250 manufacturing SMEs in Poland. We based statistical analyses on PLS-SEM.FindingsThis study revealed that SFL significantly influences PEIBs among SMEs’ employees. Moreover, current empirical evidence also confirms the partial mediating impact of EWB on the relationship of SFL with PEIBs.Originality/valueConsidering the substantial significance of innovative behaviors, this study enriches literature in the domain of sustainability-focused leadership and green innovation. We also discuss implications for theory and practice in SMEs operating within the manufacturing sector.

Keywords: Innovation; Sustainable leadership; Environmental sustainability; Sustainable development; SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/cemj/article/34/1/166/1248 ... d-leadership-and-pro (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/cemj/article-pdf/34/1/166/ ... j-11-2024-0375en.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:cemjpp:cemj-11-2024-0375

DOI: 10.1108/CEMJ-11-2024-0375

Access Statistics for this article

Central European Management Journal is currently edited by Associate Professor Pawel Korzynski

More articles in Central European Management Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().