What do sustainability leaders need? A reflective view using the corporate social entrepreneurship concept

Abstract

Corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) is a recent concept whereby organizations can aim for corporate sustainability in the pursuit of resilience. It has only rarely found its way into the discussion on leadership frameworks and styles, which raises the question of what impact CSE will have on sustainability leadership. Our research is based on different leadership frameworks including sustainability leadership, linking it to the CSE concept and its corresponding competences. The CSE concept transverses all parts of the business, employing different leadership styles. Although our results reinforced key aspects of sustainability leadership, we reveal that the transformation process towards a CSE organization requires partially opposing leadership styles.