Green transformational leadership and organizational sustainability: the role of green organizational learning capability (green absorptive capability and green transformative capability)

Adem Ozdemir

Social Responsibility Journal, 2026, vol. 22, issue 6, 1294-1313

Abstract: PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of “green transformational leadership (GTL)” on “organisational sustainability (OS)” through “green organisational learning capacity (GOLC)” by making use of the “natural resource-based view (NRBV).”Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes a theoretical model that investigates “GOLC as an intermediate mechanism in the relationship between GTL and OS based on NRBV”. The partial least squares method is used to analyze the data collected from universities in Turkey.FindingsThis study demonstrates that the “GTL of the university management has a positive effect on the GOLC” of the universities. Furthermore, it is evident from thus study that “GTL has a significant effect on OS”.Research limitations/implicationsFuture studies must take into consideration the limitations of this study. First, the present research is grounded in a Turkish university context. Consequently, the external validity of the results may be constrained to the specific context of Turkey. In subsequent research, comparisons between countries can be made by focusing on universities in other countries. Second, the use of cross-sectional data for hypothesis testing is a limitation of the study. Consequently, subsequent studies may benefit from adopting a longitudinal design to capture more enduring relationships. Third, this study is solely based on the questionnaire survey method.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates how university management can be persuasive in “adopting GOLC, and how this can play a critical role in developing green products and services to improve the university’s environmental sustainability and OS by exhibiting GTL”.Originality/valueThis study uses the “NRBV” theory to propose a novel concept, “GOLC”, and to develop an integral conceptual model to ascertain its managerial impacts, antecedents and consequences. A paucity of studies in the literature examines “the effect of GTL on GOLC and OS”.

Keywords: Green transformational leadership; Organizational sustainability; Green organizational learning capability; Green absorptive capability; Green transformative capability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:srj-02-2025-0175

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-02-2025-0175

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