Digital transformation and responsible production-consumption: the mediating roles of green innovation and organizational learning, and the moderating effect of leadership agility in Pakistan’s textile industry

Abstract The textile industry is significant for the economic growth of many countries worldwide, but it causes severe problems for the environment and society, particularly in upland economies. The textile industry in Pakistan is coming under more pressure to address responsible production and consumption concerns aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12. In this regard, the current study aims to examine how digital transformation will enable responsible production and consumption in the textile industry directly and through the mediating roles of green innovation and organizational learning, along with the moderating role of leadership agility. Self-reporting data were collected from 327 individuals employed in leading textile firms in Pakistan (Nishat Mills, Gul Ahmed, Sapphire, and Interloop) with a structured survey. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that digital transformation contributes significantly to the improvement of responsible production and consumption. Green innovation and organizational learning were reported to mediate the relationship partially, indicating that digital transformation enables eco-innovation while simultaneously supporting adaptive learning in a combined manner that fosters sustainable practices. Moreover, the data suggested that leadership agility enhances the relationship between digital transformation and responsible production and consumption, with agile, responsive leadership able to facilitate more efficient implementation of digitalization. In addition to contributing to the literature on sustainability and digitalization, this work advances dynamic capability theory to the context of responsible production and consumption and demonstrates the co-creation of technology and organizational factors in leadership capabilities and competencies found in a resource-scarce environment. At a practical level, these findings provide textile firms and policymakers with directions to develop integrated strategies to capitalize on digitalization, innovation, learning, and agile leadership in order to increase the velocity of sustainability changes.