How personal values shape sustainable leadership: the roles of self-efficacy, moral identity and social support

Purpose This study aims to examine how managers’ personal values are translated into sustainability leadership behavior and address a critical gap in the literature by moving beyond explanatory models to propose a design-oriented and actionable framework for leadership development. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 247 middle and senior managers across multiple industries in South Korea. Structural equation modeling, bootstrapping and hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the proposed relationships among values, self-efficacy, moral identity, social support and sustainability leadership behavior. Findings The results indicate that environmental and social responsibility values are significantly associated with sustainability-related self-efficacy, which is positively associated with sustainability leadership behavior. Moral identity corresponds to this relationship through an indirect association involving self-efficacy, while social support is linked to a stronger association between self-efficacy and leadership behavior. These findings support a value–efficacy–behavior pathway underlying sustainability leadership. Practical implications The findings offer concrete guidance for organizations by outlining how sustainability leadership can be systematically developed through value embedding, efficacy-building mechanisms and context-based activation systems, particularly in hierarchical and collectivist organizational environments. Originality/value This study makes a novel contribution by introducing a value–efficacy–activation framework, which conceptualizes sustainability leadership as a dynamic process through which values are converted into behavior via psychological and contextual mechanisms. Building on this, the study proposes a design-oriented 3E intervention model (embed–enable–enact), offering a structured and testable approach for developing sustainability leadership in organizational settings. By integrating explanatory and intervention-based perspectives, the study provides actionable insights that extend beyond prior research and contribute to both theory and practice.