Making Our Firm More Sustainable: The Role of CEO Vision Communication of Sustainability on Sustainability Performance

Abstract

Despite awareness of the importance and value of sustainability for organizations, how sustainable development can be achieved remains poorly understood. This article aims to address this issue by examining the role of vision communication in promoting organizational sustainability. Drawing on the Upper Echelon Theory (UET) and existing literature on sustainability, we propose that sustainable vision communication can enhance sustainability performance by promoting and facilitating organizational change. Furthermore, we argue that CEO’s dialectical leadership behavior can supplement the efforts of leaders in achieving sustainable development, thereby strengthening the aforementioned relationship. Through a field study of 130 CEOs and their 562 top management team members, we tested our model and found evidence to support the hypotheses. This study thus advances our understanding of the processes underlying organizational sustainability and highlights the crucial role of leadership in this regard. We also discuss the theoretical implications of our findings and outline potential avenues for future research.