From Green Culture to Sustainability Performance: Unpacking a Sequential Capability Pathway Through Environmental Leadership and Circular Economy Practices

ABSTRACT Although green organizational culture has been associated with sustainability outcomes, less is understood about the mechanisms through which sustainability‐oriented cultural values are translated into organizational action and performance. Drawing on the Natural Resource–Based View (NRBV) theory, this study examines how environmental leadership and circular economy practices independently and sequentially transmit the effects of green organizational culture to sustainability performance. Using a quantitative explanatory design, survey data were collected from 1209 employees across Ghana's oil and gas, power generation, transmission and distribution, and regulatory segments and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM), supplemented by cluster‐robust sensitivity analyses. The findings show that green organizational culture positively influences sustainability performance and environmental leadership. Environmental leadership, in turn, enhances circular economy practices and sustainability performance, while circular economy practices positively influence sustainability performance. However, circular economy practices do not independently mediate the green organizational culture–sustainability performance nexus. Instead, significant indirect effects operate through environmental leadership and sequentially through environmental leadership and circular economy practices, while the direct effect remains significant. These findings extend the NRBV by revealing how sustainability‐oriented culture translates into performance through interconnected leadership and operational capabilities rather than through cultural orientation alone. The study provides large‐sample evidence from an under‐researched emerging‐economy energy context and demonstrates the practical importance of aligning green organizational culture, environmental leadership, and circular economy implementation to enhance sustainability performance.