ABSTRACT This study investigates how insider leadership influences sustainable firm performance, as well as how corporate innovation mediates this relationship and how CEO international experience strengthens the effect of insider leadership on innovation and sustainability performance. Using a sample of non‐financial public companies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore during the period 2018–2024, this study applies moderated‐mediating panel regression analysis with fixed effects to empirically test the relationships between variables. The results indicate that insider CEOs significantly improve sustainable firm performance, and this relationship is partially mediated by corporate innovation. Furthermore, CEO foreign experience acts as a moderating factor that strengthens the influence of insider CEOs on firm innovation, which ultimately has a positive impact on sustainability performance. This study opens up opportunities for regulators and stakeholders to improve the quality of strategic leadership by developing global competencies and strengthening innovation orientation. However, limitations related to the measurement of variables based on archival data and potential country bias need to be considered in interpreting the results. This research contributes to the strategic leadership and sustainability literature by integrating the perspectives of insider leadership, dynamic innovation capability, and CEO global exposure into a single empirical framework. This cross‐ASEAN study provides new evidence on the mechanisms by which CEO characteristics shape sustainability performance through innovation pathways and the context of international experience.
Sardju et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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