Abstract

The study looks into the association between sustainable leadership practices and organizational performance outcomes using mixed methods. Data from 250 middle and senior-level managers from 150 organizations spanning manufacturing, technology, healthcare, and financial services were supplemented by interviews with twenty C-suite executives using open-ended questions. Using validated scales, namely Avery and Bergsteiner’s Sustainable Leadership Scale and Henri’s Organizational Performance Measure to collect and analyze the data, the study followed multiple regression and thematic analyses for relationships and links between sustainable leadership dimension and performance indices. It was found that top-quartile-level organizations for sustainable leadership practices financially outperformed bottom-quartile ones by 34% (p < .001), retained employees by 42% (p < .001), and garnered customer loyalty by 27% (p < .01). Findings from the qualitative side shed light on sustainable leaders being focused on systems thinking, stakeholder integration, and long-term value creation. This study advances leadership theory by positing that sustainable leadership functions as a dynamic capability, enabling organizations to build resilience and achieve competitive advantage. From a practical standpoint, organizations are advised to inculcate sustainability principles in the basic leadership development programs across their entire makeup and in performance measurement systems to ensure more excellent long-term outcomes. Across continents, the concept of sustainable leadership has found some conceptual exploration, especially when approached with a contextual view. Yet, empirical studies measuring the multidimensional impacts of sustainable leadership on organizational performance remain scarce, especially when applying an integrated, mixed-methods design across industries. This research fills this gap with a combination of hard-performance measures and qualitative insights, bringing fresh evidence on the industry-specific pathways through which sustainable leadership creates value.