Sustainability leadership and employee sustainability behaviour: The parallel mediating effects of sustainability orientation and employee engagement, Dr Upasana Dhanda, Dr Priya Chaudhary, Dr Simple Arora

Dr Upasana Dhanda^*
International Management Institute, New Delhi
India
Email: upasana.dhanda@imi.edu
Dr Priya Chaudhary
International Management Institute, New Delhi
India
Email: Priya.chaudhary@imi.edu
Dr Simple Arora
University of Delhi, New Delhi
India
Email: arora.simple@gmail.com

Abstract

In the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the role of leadership cannot be passed over by the organizations. The paper translates sustainability to the micro-level by looking at the leaders and employees as the driving force for sustainable endeavors in an organization. It explores the relationship between sustainability leadership and employee sustainability behaviour with parallel mediating effects of sustainability orientation and employee engagement based on sustaincentrism theory using structural equation modelling with a sample of 347 employees from four long-standing companies in India. The results provide empirical support for employee engagement and sustainability orientation to partially mediate the relationship between sustainability leadership and employee sustainability behaviours. It responds to calls in both theory and practice to explore the role of leaders and employees for driving corporate sustainability and provides a road map to organizations to attain SDGs through the behavioral manifestations of employees.

Keywords: Corporate sustainability, sustainable leadership, employee engagement, employee sustainability behaviour, sustainability orientation.