Leading for green: how organizational support and intellectual agility drive sustainable innovation

Purpose The Purpose of this mixed-methods study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles and employees’ green behavior within the context of Egyptian five-star hotels. Specifically, it examines the mechanisms through which entrepreneurial and resilient leadership influence an innovation climate and employees’ intellectual agility to foster sustainable outcomes. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sequential mixed-methods design. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships using survey data from 349 hotel employees. This is supplemented by the qualitative phase, which involves semi-structured online interviews with 25 hotel professionals to get more insight into leadership practices that have contributed to sustainability. The theoretical foundations of this investigation include social cognitive theory and dynamic capabilities theory. Findings Resilient and entrepreneurial leadership can enhance employees’ intellectual agility by fostering an innovation-oriented climate, which, in turn, strengthens their green organizational citizenship behavior and green innovative behavior. In the presence of green knowledge sharing, the climate of innovation has a greater impact on intellectual agility; perceived organizational support (POS) also enhances the impact of intellectual agility on each of the two green behaviors. The qualitative results show that leaders promoting an innovation-oriented culture enhance agility and knowledge transfer. Employees consequently invest more in environmental initiatives, bringing tangible benefits to the hotel, including cost savings and positive recognition from guests. Practical implications The findings indicate that an integrated managerial approach is needed: developing resilient and entrepreneurial leadership, establishing an innovation-supportive climate, using human resources (HR) practices to improve employees’ intellectual agility and creating formal mechanisms for green knowledge sharing. Providing tangible organizational assistance could also enable employees to harness their abilities and expertise into enduring green conduct and innovation. Originality/value This study contributes to the hospitality sustainability literature by integrating entrepreneurial and resilient leadership perspectives. The research establishes a sequential mediation chain in which innovation climate and intellectual agility transmit the effects of leadership to employees’ green behaviors, while demonstrating how green knowledge sharing and POS act as boundary conditions. The dual-theory framework, together with mixed-methods research in an emerging market setting, provides fresh theoretical and practical insights for promoting employee-led green innovation.