From green intellectual capital to sustainable performance: the roles of innovation, human resource management, leadership and regulations

Purpose This study aims to investigate how green intellectual capital (GIC) contributes to sustainable business performance (SBP) in Vietnam’s hospitality sector by examining the mediating roles of green human resource management (GHRM) and green innovation (GI), as well as the enabling influence of environmental regulations (ERs) and green transformational leadership (GTL). It extends the resource-based view, the natural resource-based view and institutional theory by focusing on Vietnam’s hospitality industry, which is characterized by labor intensity, uneven regulatory enforcement and cultural barriers to sustainability adoption. Design/methodology/approach A survey was distributed to 436 departmental and general managers from hotels and resorts located in major tourist destinations across Vietnam. The proposed relationships among green capabilities, organizational practices and sustainable outcomes were tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that GIC significantly influences GI and GHRM, which in turn enhance SBP, ERs and GTL exert both direct and indirect effects on performance outcomes. The mediation analysis confirms the complementary roles of GI and GHRM in translating GIC into sustainability outcomes. Although these overall effects are generally positive, the findings also reveal boundary conditions related to financial and technical resources that may constrain the implementation of advanced sustainability initiatives in the hospitality sector. Originality/value This study enriches sustainability research by illustrating how context-specific dimensions of GIC, including frontline environmental behaviors, organizational processes and stakeholder collaboration, are mobilized through ERs and GTL in an emerging economy characterized by weak institutional enforcement. The findings offer practical knowledge for hospitality managers seeking to integrate sustainability into human resource and innovation systems and provide policymakers with evidence on how regulatory alignment and leadership commitment can jointly accelerate sustainable transformation in the hospitality industry.