Responses to insufficient sustainability leadership: Dialectics of resistance

This paper examines resistance to leadership and how it operates across the hierarchy in a large organization. Based on a case study of an international manufacturing organization that needs to become more sustainable in its core business, this study identifies three dialectics: control/resistance, power/identity, and leader/follower which affected internal stakeholders’ views on the company’s sustainability improvements and, consequently, their resistance to leadership. By exploring the often dynamics at play in this initiative, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the dialectical forces involved when leaders do not attempt sufficiently to implement strategic change, particularly in a contested arena such as sustainability.