Does Green Transformational Leadership Develop Green Absorptive Capacity? The Role of Internal and External Environmental Orientation

Numerous researchers have investigated the concept of green absorptive capacity, but relatively few studies have been performed on its antecedents. The objective of the present research was to develop and empirically test a theoretical model, which analyzes how green transformational leadership and the (internal and external) environmental orientation of business owner–managers in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affect green absorptive capacity. The data were collected from 373 SMEs with an ISO 14001 certificate in Turkey’s manufacturing industry by the survey method. The data were examined in the SmartPLS 3 analysis program to analyze the hypotheses. According to the research findings, the green transformational leadership of business owner–managers in SMEs and (internal and external) environmental orientation significantly influence the green absorptive capacity. The findings also revealed that (internal and external) environmental orientation partially mediates the correlation between the green transformational leadership and green absorptive capacity. Hence, this research presented new information on how green transformational leadership and the (internal and external) environmental orientation of business owner–managers improve green absorptive capacity in SMEs.