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1 – 10 of over 24000Pwint Nee Aung and Philip Hallinger
Despite the centrality of leadership to the successful transformation of universities toward sustainability, the literature on the role and practices of sustainability leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the centrality of leadership to the successful transformation of universities toward sustainability, the literature on the role and practices of sustainability leadership in higher education remains poorly developed. To address this gap, this study aims to develop a conceptual model of sustainability leadership in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the scoping review method to review, critique and synthesize relevant literature.
Findings
The resulting model of sustainability leadership in higher education proposes that sustainability leadership in higher education has the potential to transform university practices through reorientation and stewardship of the institutional mission and strengthening the commitment of stakeholders. Sustainability leadership has the potential to create a positive effect on a balanced set of performance indicators, as well as contributing to institutional and societal resilience in the longer term.
Originality/value
Sustainability leadership in higher education should be given prominence in its own right due to the unique organizational context of universities. This study synthesized the current discourse on sustainability leadership in higher education and its distinct attributes toward sustainable development.
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Dimitrios Kafetzopoulos and Katerina Gotzamani
This study aims to develop a framework that examines how different leadership styles influence talent management (TM) and how these leadership styles and TM influence firms’…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a framework that examines how different leadership styles influence talent management (TM) and how these leadership styles and TM influence firms’ sustainable performance considering the moderating role of environmental dynamism.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve these objectives, an empirical survey was conducted among 480 participant firms in Greece. Hierarchical regression was performed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This study reveals the significance of authoritative and transformational leadership on TM. The results also show the positive effect of talent development on sustainability. Moreover, entrepreneurial leadership is found to be the most influential style for economic sustainability, whereas transformational and transactional leaderships are the most influential leadership styles for social and environmental sustainability performance.
Research limitations/implications
The data was collected at only one point in time, while sustainability is a continuous process. Moreover, only four leadership styles were addressed.
Practical implications
Proper leadership style should be selected to facilitate different sustainability dimensions. Talent development is a valuable investment toward sustainable performance of firms.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the upper echelon theory, identifying whether and how different leadership styles affect TM and sustainability. The study also advances the human recourse development literature by critically reviewing and identifying the influence of TM on firms’ sustainable performance. Moreover, the role of environmental dynamism is revealed on all the above relationships.
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Pwint Nee Aung and Philip Hallinger
This review aims to identify the intellectual structure or key theoretical themes that comprise the emerging field of sustainability leadership in higher education.
Abstract
Purpose
This review aims to identify the intellectual structure or key theoretical themes that comprise the emerging field of sustainability leadership in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The Scopus index was used to identify 180 documents published sustainable leadership in higher education published between 1998 and 2021. Author co-citation analysis in VOSviewer software was used to address the research question driving this inquiry.
Findings
This review found that the intellectual structure of scholarship on sustainability leadership in higher education is composed of four dominant “schools of thought”. These included sustainability leadership, managing campus greening, managing change and system integration, and education for sustainable development.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest a need for more theorizing and empirical studies that explore the nature and effects of sustainability leadership in higher education. Particular attention should be given to how features of universities as organizations shape the requirements for and constraints on leadership. From a practical perspective, the findings highlight key domains of policy and practice that higher education leaders can target in efforts to enhance sustainability in their universities and societies.
Originality/value
The bibliometric review offers empirically-based insights into the evolution and current status of the literature on sustainability leadership in higher education. The findings can be used as a benchmark against which future developments in this knowledge base can be assessed.
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Ki-Hoon Lee and Stefan Schaltegger
This paper aims to investigate the roles of leadership in enabling sustainability transformation of universities and higher sustainability management education. It advocates…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the roles of leadership in enabling sustainability transformation of universities and higher sustainability management education. It advocates research into the role of leadership for a university’s sustainability transformation by exploring interactions between university members and institutional contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach, this study explores the sustainability transformation of a university and its influence on the MBA Sustainability Management by applying Mintzberg’s leadership framework.
Findings
The findings suggest that leaders can strongly influence a process of change in mindsets, practices and curricula to incorporate sustainability into higher business education institutions. Whereas bottom-up leadership initiatives are crucial, leadership support from top management is seen as important to enable larger, more radical steps of transformation.
Originality/value
It is worthy noting that in the medium run strategic leadership to develop good sustainability management education programs requires a consistent institutional commitment for sustainability.
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Ilana Avissar, Iris Alkaher and Dafna Gan
Distributed leadership has been reported in the literature as an effective management approach for educational organizations such as institutions of higher education. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Distributed leadership has been reported in the literature as an effective management approach for educational organizations such as institutions of higher education. This study aims to investigate the role of distributed leadership in the promotion of sustainability in an Israeli college of teacher education.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the Multi-Level Model of Leadership Practice in higher education, taken from Bolden et al. (2008a) and from Woods et al. (2004), the authors investigated how the characteristics of distributed leadership are expressed in three central organization-wide structures in the college (a student group, the green council and a professional development program). They also explored in what ways aspects of distributed leadership promote sustainability-oriented activities on campus. They used a deductive and inductive interpretive approach in this case study.
Findings
The authors found three organization-level processes that are based on the principles of distributed leadership and that promote sustainability on campus: distributed leadership enables change in the organization’s internal culture with respect to mainstreaming sustainability; distributed leadership encourages collaboration between the entire campus population and between different departments and distributed leadership on campus enables the development of diverse “bottom-up” and “top-down” structures in the organization.
Originality/value
While the study’s findings indicated several challenges regarding the implementation of distributed leadership in the organization, they ultimately support the idea that distributed leadership may contribute to the long-term, organization-wide implementation of sustainability in higher education institutes. Therefore, the authors recommend that institutions that are willing to promote sustainability adopt distributed leadership as their major management approach.
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The implementation of sustainability-related policies at universities has been marked by a greater sense of urgency in recent years. Despite this emerging trend, it is still…
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of sustainability-related policies at universities has been marked by a greater sense of urgency in recent years. Despite this emerging trend, it is still unclear which leadership processes, at which levels and which theoretical concepts encourage sustainable transitions within universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to offer a systematic literature review of the existing literature on sustainability-related leadership processes, levels and theories that encourage the transformation of universities, aimed at providing guidance on this topic; uncovering gaps in the literature; and finding new paths for future research.
Findings
Leadership processes in the context of sustainability-related transitions have been approached in a rather fragmented way in the literature, and the scientific field would benefit from more in-depth and longitudinal studies. In total, this study identifies 95 processes that are related to 17 aspects of universities’ transitions.
Research limitations/implications
The various leadership levels are involved in transition processes at different stages. The theories of distributed and sustainability leadership seem to be the most frequently used theories in the literature.
Practical implications
Structuring and defining leadership processes, levels and theories can lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of the transition process and, in a broader sense, of the process of sustainability integration in higher education. A better knowledge of how such a transition develops could contribute to the enhancement of existing sustainable development strategy and policy.
Originality/value
By focusing on an underresearched topic through a theoretical perspective of leadership theories, this study contributes to literature pertaining to leadership levels and processes involved in sustainability transitions of universities.
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Alex Opoku, Heather Cruickshank and Vian Ahmed
Sustainable construction project delivery should be supported by committed and inspirational leadership, with a clear understanding of the sustainability challenge. Construction…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainable construction project delivery should be supported by committed and inspirational leadership, with a clear understanding of the sustainability challenge. Construction organizations need intra-organizational leadership that provides the collective vision, strategy and direction towards the shared common goal of a sustainable future. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intra-organizational leadership within UK construction organizations charged with the promotion of sustainability practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a mixed method approach with qualitative data collected through semi-structured interview with 15 leaders, followed by an industry-wide survey of 200 intra-organizational leaders in contractor and consultant organizations in the UK construction industry.
Findings
The analysis of the data revealed that, the most important role of intra-organizational leadership in promoting sustainable construction practices is to formulate policies, implement procedures and disseminate best practices throughout the organization .
Originality/value
Nothing has been written on intra-organizational leadership role in promoting sustainability practices in the construction industry. Although leadership and sustainability has been widely covered as separate issues this study provides the empirical evidence of the link between leadership and sustainability in construction.
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Jem Bendell, Neil Sutherland and Richard Little
The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of Critical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of Critical Leadership Studies to future research on sustainable development policies and practices. A critical approach is also applied to concepts of sustainable development, with three paradigms of thought described.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken is an extensive literature review in fields of leadership and sustainable development, with a focus on some of the broad assumptions and assertions in those literatures.
Findings
A key finding is that leadership studies drawing from critical social theory can provide important insights into future research and education on leadership for sustainability. This literature shows that some assumptions about leadership may hinder opportunities for social or organisational change by reducing the analysis of factors in change or reducing the agency of those not deemed to be leading. These limitations are summarised as “seven unsustainabilities” of mainstream leadership research.
Research limitations/implications
The paper calls for the emerging field of sustainable leadership to develop an understanding of significant individual action that includes collective, emergent and episodic dimensions. The paper then summarises key aspects of the papers in this special issue on leadership for sustainability.
Practical implications
The implications for practice are that efforts to promote organisational contributions to sustainable development should not uncritically draw upon mainstream approaches to leadership or the training of leaders.
Originality/value
The authors consider this the first paper to provide a synthesis of insights from Critical Leadership Studies for research in sustainability.
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Divya Tripathi, Pushpendra Priyadarshi, Pankaj Kumar and Sushil Kumar
The purpose of this paper is to take a micro-foundational perspective to identify the effective leadership style and employee work behavior in achieving the goals of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to take a micro-foundational perspective to identify the effective leadership style and employee work behavior in achieving the goals of sustainability. It also aims to identify the mechanism through which leaders influence employees’ performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on existing literature for model creation and proposition development to understand the leadership style and employee behavior that would be effective in achieving sustainability goals.
Findings
In achieving the multifaceted goals of sustainability, servant leadership style is effective in mobilizing the resources and implementing the sustainability strategies among stakeholders. By enhancing interpersonal trust and psychological empowerment, servant leaders positively influence the work role behavior of the employees. Furthermore, the work performance of employees helps in achieving sustainable development.
Research limitations/implications
This study draws on the theory of micro-foundations to establish how individual-level factors help in realizing the macro goal of sustainability. It throws light on the growing need to cultivate micro-level leadership skills and employee behaviors to have effective organizational sustainability performance. It is imperative for the organizations to be socially responsible along with achieving the business goals.
Originality/value
This study responds to the call of studying micro-level actions in the context of sustainable development. It extends the current knowledge by developing a causal model linking leadership and employee performance through interpersonal trust and psychological empowerment. Moreover, it presents testable propositions linking interpersonal trust and psychological empowerment.
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Alex Opoku, Vian Ahmed and Heather Cruickshank
Leadership is a significant success factor in promoting sustainability practices in the construction industry. Sustainability is an integral part of the construction industry and…
Abstract
Purpose
Leadership is a significant success factor in promoting sustainability practices in the construction industry. Sustainability is an integral part of the construction industry and affects all aspects of construction business operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is any particular leadership style associated with intra-organizational leaders within UK construction organizations charged with the promotion of sustainability practices. The paper therefore examines the effective leadership style of sustainability professionals responsible for developing sustainable construction strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interview with 15 leaders, followed by an industry-wide survey of 200 intra-organizational leaders in contractor and consultant organizations in the UK construction industry.
Findings
The results showed that while there is no one best leadership style for all situation, most leaders charged with the role of promoting sustainable construction are strategic in their style or behaviour.
Originality/value
Although leadership and sustainability has been widely covered as separate issues, little rigorous research has been done on the link between leadership and sustainability in construction management research. The findings could guide organizational leaders with the responsibility of promoting sustainability practices.
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