Green leadership: a scientific paradigm or a managerial fashion?

Purpose This study critically explores the increasingly popular concept of green leadership within managerial and academic discourse. Although frequently presented as an ethically grounded leadership model aligned with sustainability goals, its maturity as a scientific paradigm remains questionable. The paper evaluates whether green leadership possesses the conceptual coherence, methodological structure, and problem-solving capacity necessary to qualify as a paradigm. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on Thomas Kuhn's theory of paradigms, the study examines the conceptual foundations of green leadership and assesses its theoretical and methodological status. It further incorporates insights from Abrahamson's concept of management fashion and employs a critical management studies lens to explore the discursive construction of green leadership. Additionally, the analysis integrates Popper's falsifiability criterion and Lakatos's research programme model to evaluate the concept's scientific rigor. Findings The analysis suggests that green leadership largely draws on transformational, ethical, and sustainable leadership approaches without offering an original theoretical foundation. From this perspective, it resembles a management fashion more than a paradigmatic framework. The study argues that the normative positivity surrounding green leadership may contribute to legitimizing existing organizational power structures. Furthermore, it identifies Western-centric development and universalist assumptions that challenge the concept's cultural adaptability in non-Western or developing contexts. Overall, the findings conclude that green leadership currently lacks sufficient explanatory power, conceptual coherence, and theoretical maturity to be considered a scientific paradigm. Originality/value This study contributes by systematically evaluating green leadership through the lens of paradigm theory and the philosophy of science. It moves beyond normative and symbolic representations of green leadership and provides a critical and interdisciplinary perspective that highlights its conceptual limitations and cultural blind spots. The study emphasizes the need for further theoretically grounded, empirically robust, and culturally sensitive research to enhance the legitimacy and practical relevance of green leadership.