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Abstract
This study examines the role of green strategic leadership in shaping the quality, integrity, and SDG alignment of corporate sustainability reporting. The research aims to clarify how leadership vision, organizational culture, governance structures, and institutional pressures collectively influence the depth and authenticity of sustainability disclosures in the contemporary global sustainability landscape. Employing a qualitative research design grounded in a systematic literature review, this study synthesizes theoretical and empirical findings from recent scholarly work to explore the mechanisms through which leadership affects sustainability reporting practices. The analysis incorporates peer-reviewed sources, conceptual frameworks, and evidence-based insights to construct an integrated understanding of the leadership–reporting nexus. The results indicate that green strategic leadership significantly enhances sustainability reporting by fostering long-term environmental vision, cultivating sustainability-oriented culture, strengthening governance systems, and promoting constructive responses to institutional pressures. Leaders with strong environmental values drive organizations toward more substantive and SDG-oriented disclosures, while governance structures shaped by leadership reduce tendencies toward symbolic reporting and greenwashing. The findings further reveal that leadership plays a mediating role in translating global sustainability expectations into organizational practice, enabling firms to use reporting as a strategic tool rather than a compliance obligation. Overall, the study demonstrates that sustainability reporting excellence is inseparable from the quality of leadership guiding corporate sustainability strategy..
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References
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- Chen, Y.-S., & Chang, C.-H. (2013). The determinants of green product innovation performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(1), 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1459-1
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- Eccles, R. G., & Klimenko, S. (2019). The investor revolution. Harvard Business Review, 97(3), 106–116. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3314906
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- Simnett, R., & Huggins, A. L. (2015). Assurance of sustainability reports: Current practices and issues. Australian Accounting Review, 25(4), 317–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12074
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- Wang, H., Zhao, L., & Chen, W. (2018). CEO characteristics and environmental performance: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Research, 91, 148–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.06.016
References
Amorelli, M. F., & García-Sánchez, I. M. (2020). Trends in sustainability reporting: A focus on the role of the board of directors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 255, 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120209
Afsar, B., & Umrani, W. A. (2020). Transformational leadership and innovative work behavior: The role of employee engagement. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(1), 145–156. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1759
Bansal, P., Kim, A., & Wood, M. (2021). Hidden in plain sight: The importance of scale in organizations’ attention to sustainability. Academy of Management Review, 46(2), 262–286. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2017.0460
Boiral, O. (2013). Sustainability reporting and impression management: A systematic literature review. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(3), 405–436. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513571311311874
Boiral, O., Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., & Brotherton, M. C. (2018). Corporate sustainability leadership: A review. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(8), 1513–1524. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2216
Chen, Y.-S., & Chang, C.-H. (2013). The determinants of green product innovation performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(1), 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1459-1
Cho, C. H., Laine, M., Roberts, R. W., & Rodrigue, M. (2021). The frontstage and backstage of corporate sustainability reporting: A literature review. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 34(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2019-4444
Clarkson, P. M., Li, Y., Richardson, G. D., & Vasvari, F. (2019). Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis. Contemporary Accounting Research, 36(1), 112–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12445
Dentoni, D., Bitzer, V., & Schouten, G. (2021). Harnessing wicked problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 180(2), 317–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04933-5
DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Collective rationality and institutional isomorphism in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
Eccles, R. G., & Klimenko, S. (2019). The investor revolution. Harvard Business Review, 97(3), 106–116. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3314906
Eccles, R. G., & Krzus, M. P. (2018). The integrated reporting movement: Meaning, momentum, motives, and materiality. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119199964
Freeman, R. E., Martin, K., & Parmar, B. (2020). The power of AND: Responsible business without trade-offs. Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503613612
Fuenfschilling, L., & Truffer, B. (2021). Institutional change and sustainability transitions: The multi-level perspective revisited. Research Policy, 50(4), 104–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104272
Galpin, T., Whittington, J. L., & Bell, G. (2015). Is your sustainability strategy sustainable? Journal of Strategy and Management, 8(2), 130–146. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-09-2014-0070
García-Sánchez, I. M., Aibar-Guzmán, B., Aibar-Guzmán, C., & Rodríguez-Ariza, L. (2020). CEO ability and sustainability reporting: The mediating role of corporate governance strength. Long Range Planning, 53(6), 101–984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101954
Hart, S. L., & Dowell, G. (2011). A natural-resource-based view of the firm: Fifteen years after. Journal of Management, 37(5), 1464–1479. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310390219
Hummel, K., & Schlick, C. (2016). The relationship between sustainability performance and sustainability disclosure: Reconciling legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory. Business Strategy and the Environment, 25(4), 361–374. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1876
La Torre, M., Sabelfeld, S., Blomkvist, M., & Tarquinio, L. (2020). Harmonizing sustainability reporting: Evidence from the European Union. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 33(8), 1853–1879. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2019-4080
Liao, L., Luo, L., & Tang, Q. (2015). Gender diversity, board independence, and corporate environmental disclosure. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3), 691–706. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2642-0
Michelon, G., Pilonato, S., & Ricceri, F. (2016). CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis. Accounting Forum, 40(4), 337–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2016.07.001
Mittal, S., & Dhar, R. L. (2016). Effect of green transformational leadership on green creativity: A study of knowledge-intensive firms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 139, 740–752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.069
Norton, T. A., Zacher, H., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2014). Environmental leadership and employee green behavior: A review and conceptual analysis. Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 431–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.07.005
Pizzi, S., Rosati, F., & Venturelli, A. (2021). The determinants of business contribution to the 2030 Agenda: Introducing the SDG reporting scoring system. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(1), 404–421. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2668
Robertson, J. L., & Barling, J. (2015). Greening organizations through leaders’ influence on employees’ pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(2), 176–194. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1954
Rosati, F., & Faria, L. G. D. (2019). Business contribution to the Sustainable Development Agenda: Organizational factors related to early adoption of SDG reporting. Journal of Cleaner Production, 215, 1342–1356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.323
Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2020). The Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108992411
Simnett, R., & Huggins, A. L. (2015). Assurance of sustainability reports: Current practices and issues. Australian Accounting Review, 25(4), 317–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12074
Testa, F., Boiral, O., & Iraldo, F. (2020). Internalization of environmental practices and institutional complexity: Can leadership make the difference? Journal of Business Ethics, 166(4), 703–722. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04146-3
Van der Waal, J. W., & Thijssens, T. (2020). Corporate involvement with the Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring the relevance of firm size, industry, and performance. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(2), 108–120. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1797
Wang, H., Zhao, L., & Chen, W. (2018). CEO characteristics and environmental performance: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Research, 91, 148–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.06.016