Leadership and Sustainability in a Globalized World: Emerging Trends, Global Contexts, Key Challenges, and Effective Strategies

Abstract

This systematic review analyzes 109 studies from top business journals, exploring the connection between leadership and sustainability, including key leadership styles, emerging trends, and challenges in integrating sustainability into organizational strategies and operations. Our analysis reveals responsible leadership, followed by transformational and female leadership, as the most common styles used to drive the integration of sustainability into organizational strategies and operations. Core sustainability practices are more closely aligned with addressing grand societal challenges, particularly “climate action” followed by “quality education,” “innovation,” and “gender equality.” The study highlights key challenges facing the leadership in driving sustainability include stakeholders' resistance to change, financial constraints, capacity building, and regulatory hurdles. Overcoming these requires raising stakeholder awareness, aligning sustainability with business goals, leveraging cross-sectoral collaboration, and regulatory harmonization. This study highlights the transformative role of leadership in promoting sustainability, emphasizing cross-sectoral learning to drive meaningful change.

Keywords: climate action, gender equality, grand societal challenges, innovation, leadership, sustainability