Managers' Sustainability Mindset: The Role of Place Attachment and Absorptive Capacity

Sustainability mindset among managers is crucial for advancing sustainable development and creating long-term environmental and social value. This study focuses on middle managers in Indian organizations and explores how place attachment and managerial absorptive capacity affect their sustainability mindset. Drawing on survey data, we find that managers who report stronger emotional connections to their local environment also demonstrate greater capacity to acquire, assimilate, and apply sustainability-related knowledge. In turn, these relational and cognitive orientations are positively associated with sustainability mindset. By highlighting the relevance of emotional ties to place and the role of absorptive capacity in interpreting and integrating external sustainability knowledge, the study contributes to a more contextualized understanding of sustainability mindset in emerging economies. The results suggest that fostering managers’ connection to their physical and community environments, alongside efforts to build knowledge capabilities, may support organizations in pursuing sustained sustainability transformation.