Leadership for Sustainability: The Role of Values, Sustainability Understanding, and Education

Management attitudes for sustainable development are an important antecedent of responsible leadership behavior. However, the factors that determine sustainable management attitudes are not yet thoroughly researched. This paper puts forward a theoretical model, in which individual values and conceptual understanding of sustainability are included as drivers of sustainable management attitudes. The paper also enquires the role of having attended a university following a whole institution approach to education for sustainability.
A quantitative empirical approach based on a survey dataset is chosen to test the model. The results confirm the relevance of self-transcendent and open values as antecedents of responsible management attitudes. Further, the important role of the conceptual sustainability understanding can be confirmed. Interestingly, a skepticism factor is identified that has a significant negative influence on management attitudes for environmental sustainability. Surprisingly, the hypothesized positive relationship between having attended a university following a whole institution approach to education for sustainable development and sustainable management attitudes cannot be confirmed. In fact, the results even suggest a negative relationship. Finally, the paper includes implications and avenues for further research on responsible leader mindsets and responsible management education as well as implications for responsible leadership practice.