Guiding Attention for Sustainability‐Oriented Innovation: How Strategic Leaders Translate Ethical Values

IF 13.2 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Business Strategy and The Environment Pub Date : 2026-10-05 DOI:10.1002/bse.71626

Sophie Bollinger, Marion Neukam, Claude Guittard

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Abstract

Research on sustainable leadership recognizes the importance of leaders' values but says less about how these values gain organizational awareness. Drawing on the attention‐based view of the firm, this study examines how strategic leaders translate ethical values into organizational attention and under what conditions this process supports sustainability‐oriented innovation. We conduct a comparative multiple‐case study of six organizations in France, based on 92 interviews across hierarchical levels, site visits, and documentary evidence. The analysis identifies three configurations. Where formal attentional structures are weak, innovation projects temporarily bridge leaders and employees around shared values. Where leaders provide “air coverage,” ethical commitments guide strategic boundaries but remain partly decoupled from operational routines. Where attention is structurally distributed, ethical and business priorities are tightly coupled across organizational levels. These findings show that values do not automatically translate into action: Their organizational effects depend on perceived authenticity, communication channels, and attentional structures. The study extends sustainable leadership research by specifying the conditions of value enactment and extends the attention‐based view by revealing the normative foundations of attention distribution.

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可持续性导向创新的引导注意力：战略领导者如何转化伦理价值观

对可持续领导的研究承认了领导者价值观的重要性，但很少谈到这些价值观如何获得组织意识。本研究以公司的注意力为基础，探讨了战略领导者如何将道德价值观转化为组织注意力，以及在什么条件下这一过程支持以可持续发展为导向的创新。我们对法国的六个组织进行了多案例比较研究，基于92次跨层级访谈、实地考察和文献证据。分析确定了三种配置。在正式的注意力结构薄弱的地方，创新项目暂时在领导和员工之间架起了一座共同价值观的桥梁。在领导者提供“空中覆盖”的地方，道德承诺指导战略边界，但仍在一定程度上与业务惯例脱钩。当注意力在结构上分散时，道德和业务优先级在组织级别上紧密耦合。这些发现表明，价值观不会自动转化为行动：它们对组织的影响取决于感知真实性、沟通渠道和注意力结构。本研究通过明确价值制定的条件扩展了可持续领导力研究，并通过揭示注意力分配的规范基础扩展了基于注意力的观点。

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来源期刊

Business Strategy and The Environment Multiple-

CiteScore

22.50

自引率

19.40%

发文量

336

期刊介绍： Business Strategy and the Environment (BSE) is a leading academic journal focused on business strategies for improving the natural environment. It publishes peer-reviewed research on various topics such as systems and standards, environmental performance, disclosure, eco-innovation, corporate environmental management tools, organizations and management, supply chains, circular economy, governance, green finance, industry sectors, and responses to climate change and other contemporary environmental issues. The journal aims to provide original contributions that enhance the understanding of sustainability in business. Its target audience includes academics, practitioners, business managers, and consultants. However, BSE does not accept papers on corporate social responsibility (CSR), as this topic is covered by its sibling journal Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. The journal is indexed in several databases and collections such as ABI/INFORM Collection, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, BIOBASE, Emerald Management Reviews, GeoArchive, Environment Index, GEOBASE, INSPEC, Technology Collection, and Web of Science.