Sustainability in startups/small and medium-sized enterprises: The influential role of entrepreneurial leadership and innovative behavior

Purpose: Entrepreneurial leadership is widely identified as a crucial element for companies to flourish and raise innovation.The capability of management to impact employee attitudes and behaviors toward organizational objectives is vital for the competitiveness, growth, and survival of the organization.Implications: There is no existing research on the primary mechanisms through which leaders impact organizational processes.Hence, the current study investigates the role of entrepreneurial leadership and the innovative behavior of the employee in sustainability practices, revealing that entrepreneurial leadership will lessen work uncertainty and promote innovation.Methodology: A simple random probabilistic sampling was followed to collect the research data from target respondents using a self-administered structured questionnaire.A total of 100 responses were taken for the final analysis, which was conducted using AMOS and SPSS software.Findings: The study's findings revealed that entrepreneurial leadership adopts an inspiring and helpful workplace environment.Moreover, the analysis of the results revealed substantial relationships between entrepreneurial leadership, innovative behavior, and sustainability practices, emphasizing the vital role of leadership and innovation in adopting sustainable organizational practices.Originality: The study findings infer that entrepreneurial leadership significantly impacts sustainability practices and the outcomes emphasize the significance of integrating sustainability practices into the fundamental strategies of startups/small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Hence, the policymakers should implement the suggestions to achieve sustainability in their startups/SMEs.