Green Leadership in the Eyes of Generation Z: Exploring Sustainability Values and Leadership Preferences Among Emerging Young Professionals

This study examines the sustainability concerns of the Gen Z and the type of leaders they would prefer in organizations, especially in relation to environmental responsibility. Gen Z is also the first generation growing in an interconnected society and globally becoming more conscious of the environmental issues that need to be addressed. The study is a survey-based study, which both gathers quantitative and qualitative responses from 300 young professionals and university students aged 18 to 25. The survey further shows that sustainability is an important issue to Gen Z as most of them expressed they would rather work with organizations that have environmental consciousness. In this case, Gen Z expects their leaders to be authentic, inclusive and transparent as is the case with green leadership. From this paper it becomes clear that for organizations that would wish to employ and retain the Gen Z employees, it is not just the right thing to do to embrace green leadership practices but the smart thing to do. The conclusions highlight that sustainability of leadership solutions should be implemented to match the expectations of the new generation of employees and guarantee organizational success.