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Improving the social sustainable performance of organizations requires a shift toward ethical leaders’ behaviors and green-focused human resource management initiatives. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study aims to empirically evaluate the influence of ethical leadership and green human resource management on the social sustainable performance of maritime companies.

The study analyzes empirical data from 109 Greek maritime companies and uses partial least squares structural equation modeling to examine the hypotheses.

The findings confirm the direct, significant and positive effect of both ethical leadership and green human resource management on social sustainable performance. The complementary (partial) mediation of green human resource management in the ethical leadership – social sustainable performance is also revealed.

This study contributes to the under-researched domain of social sustainability and addresses the emerging concept of green human resource management in the maritime transportation literature. It also highlights the effect of ethical leadership and green human resource management on the improvement of social sustainable performance, which is also lacking in the literature. The study uncovers that the presence of leaders with ethical values and the implementation of green human resource management are important for organizations seeking to achieve high levels of social sustainable performance.