Eco‐Centric Leadership and Competitive Advantage in an Emerging Market: The Roles of Radical Innovation, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Organizational Resilience Using SEM – ANN

ABSTRACT Environmental pressures and competitive uncertainty increasingly require firms in emerging markets to translate sustainability‐oriented leadership into tangible competitive value. Drawing on the resource‐based view, this study examines how eco‐centric leadership influences competitive advantage through radical innovation and corporate social responsibility (CSR), while considering organizational resilience as a boundary condition. Survey data from respondents in Pakistan's food manufacturing sector were analyzed using a hybrid partial least squares structural equation modeling–artificial neural network (PLS‐SEM–ANN) approach. The results reveal that eco‐centric leadership has a significant negative direct association with competitive advantage, whereas its indirect effects through radical innovation and CSR are positive and significant, indicating competitive or inconsistent mediation. Radical innovation emerges as the stronger mediating mechanism and the most important predictor of competitive advantage in the ANN analysis. Organizational resilience strengthens the positive relationship between radical innovation and competitive advantage but slightly weakens the CSR–competitive advantage relationship; both moderation effects are small. The study extends the resource‐based view by showing that eco‐centric leadership generates competitive value primarily through organizational resource‐conversion mechanisms rather than leadership orientation alone. For managers in emerging‐market firms, the findings highlight the strategic importance of translating environmental leadership priorities into innovation and responsible organizational practices while treating resilience as a complementary capability.