Drawing on the knowledge- and resource-based view, this study seeks to determine how knowledge-oriented leadership contributes to Sustainable Performance across all dimensions of the triple bottom line, considering the mediating effects of the Sustainable Development Goals, knowledge workers’ social responsibility, and knowledge workers’ competence. In addition, it explores whether Green Intellectual Capital strengthens or weakens this relationship.
Survey data were collected from 413 employees in SMEs in China’s manufacturing and technology sectors; the proposed relationships were assessed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).
The study found that knowledge-oriented leadership does not directly influence sustainable performance; it affects sustainable performance only through mediating mechanisms. The findings further indicate that knowledge-oriented leadership significantly fosters alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as knowledge workers’ social responsibility and competence, ultimately enhancing Sustainable Performance. The analysis also revealed that Green intellectual capital positively moderates the knowledge-oriented leadership and sustainable performance relationship and strengthens the indirect pathway through SDGs.
Despite its contributions, this study has several limitations. First, the data were collected from manufacturing and technology SMEs in China using a cross-sectional design, which limits the generalizability of the findings and does not allow causal relationships to be established. Future studies should employ longitudinal or multi-country designs to validate the proposed framework across different organizational and cultural contexts. Second, although this study identified SDG orientation, knowledge-worker social responsibility, and knowledge-worker competence as important mediating mechanisms, other organizational factors such as digital transformation, organizational learning, and innovation capability may also influence the relationship between knowledge-oriented leadership and sustainable performance. Finally, future research could further examine the role of green intellectual capital by exploring additional boundary conditions or conducting industry-specific analyses to determine whether its moderating influence varies across different organizational settings.
The study’s relevance stems from the scarcity of research that offers a holistic understanding of how knowledge-oriented leadership contributes to sustainable performance and the mechanisms that translate KOL into sustainable performance outcomes.
