Defining sustainable leadership

Abstract

The concepts of sustainable leadership remain complex and confusing for employees, leaders and organisations to grasp. It is a challenge for today's organisations to define these concepts and to be able to measure them. This study analysed the interpretations of sustainability, subsequently developing a sustainable leadership definition acceptable to all demographics within an organisation. This simplified definition and example will be used in a questionnaire developed by the authors, the Sustainable Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ). The ultimate objective for the use of this definition is to aid in gauging employees' perception of sustainable leadership in organisations by way of the SLQ. Additionally, the questionnaire will be used as a baseline to track organisational improvements, if any, over time in sustainable leadership behaviours.