Abstract:
This study examines the mediation effect of managers’ ethical behaviour and organizational change on the
leadership dimensions that influence sustainability leadership among Sri Lankan managers. Manager’s attitudes
to organizational change and their ethical behaviour are identified as essential dimensions to achieve sustainable
leadership in the business world. While much of the literature underlines the direct relationship between
organizational leadership and either organizational change or manager’s ethical behaviour, only a few studies
focus on the mediating effect of the manager’s ethical behaviour and organizational change leadership on
perceptions of creating a sustainable organization. Sri Lanka is identified as a developing country with strong
socio-cultural values that promote sustainability. Understanding what constitutes sustainability leadership in a
developing country such as Sri Lanka is worth examining. The responses of 596 managers were analyzed using
factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings confirm that stakeholder relations are the most
influential dimension for creating sustainability leadership. Mediation analysis tests confirmed that the two
mediators of managers’ ethical behaviour and change leadership fully mediate the relationships between
employee engagement and leaders’ concern for social and environmental sustainability, which concern was
identified as the weakest of the three leadership dimensions suggesting that long-term orientation has not much
potential for creating sustainability leadership among Sri Lankan managers.
