Sustainability-Embedded Leadership for Successful Change Management

Drawing on Daniel Goleman’s leadership paradigm as well as critically engaging with the Authentic Leadership and Complexity Leadership theories, this article explores how lead- ership drives change management specifically in the context of advancing organizational sustainability. While change management has been widely examined in areas such as technology adoption and restructuring, there is less clarity on how to lead change that directly supports sustainability goals. Therefore, the current research addresses the gap by focusing on leadership strategies that effectively embed sustainability into leadership practices. Using a theory triangulation method, we built an analytic framework that inte- grates theoretical and empirical perspectives to better understand how sustainability-em- bedded leadership can support change management for the best possible outcome. Re- search data are gathered from respected academic sources including ProQuest, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. Research findings reveal that leaders who tailor their leadership to specific situations are more effective at advancing organizational sustainability than those who rely on a single type of leadership. We also create a contrast table to demonstrate the characteristics of eight leadership types, with a focus on how each can contribute to or- ganizational performance and sustainability. The table serves as a managerial guide for aligning leadership strategies with sustainability objectives. The current research contrib- utes to the intersection of leadership and sustainability by identifying how different lead- ership types affect an organization’s ability to adopt and implement sustainable practices. By clarifying the strengths and limitations of each approach, the current research enhances the understanding of how situation-oriented leadership can support sustainability goals. The findings also have practical implications for how organizations design and implement change management policies aimed at long-term environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.