The green shift: harnessing leadership, HR, and culture for sustainable success

• Investigates how Green Transformation Leadership, HR practices, and Green Culture influence Environmental Sustainability. • Explores Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior as a mediating factor in sustainability outcomes. • Empirical analysis conducted across 358 employees in high resource-consuming industries in Pakistan. • Uses Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to validate a comprehensive sustainability model. • Reveals Green Culture as the strongest predictor of sustainability performance. • Emphasizes the importance of leadership–HR–culture alignment for effective environmental strategies. • Offers actionable insights for policymakers and business leaders aiming for sustainable transitions. This study examines the influence of Green Transformation Leadership (GTL), Green Human Resource Practices (GHRP), and Green Culture (GC) on Environmental Sustainability (ES), with Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB) acting as a mediating variable. Data were collected from 358 employees across resource-intensive sectors including hospitals, transport, chemical industries, and tanneries in five major Pakistani cities. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to evaluate the relationships among variables. Findings reveal that Green Culture exerts a strong direct and indirect impact on sustainability through PEB. GTL demonstrates the importance of leadership commitment, while GHRP enhances outcomes when integrated with cultural and leadership strategies. The R2 values indicate strong relationships between Green Transformation Leadership, Green HR Practices and Green Culture with Employees’ Pro-environmental Behavior and between these factors with Environmental Sustainability. These components together produce essential outcomes for promoting sustainable practices in organizations. The proposed model underscores the role of employee engagement in driving sustainability and offers practical recommendations for business leaders and policymakers. This study contributes to the sustainability literature by validating a holistic model and offering actionable insights for advancing green initiatives in emerging economies like Pakistan.