Management of green innovation: the influence of digital leadership on employee behavior in an empirical investigation

Purpose The growing influence of digital leadership in today’s technology-driven environment makes it important to understand how leadership extends beyond innovation to influence an organization’s competitiveness. This study explores how digital leadership shapes the internal green organizational climate and how, through that climate, it can drive employees’ green innovative behaviors. It also asks whether strategic agility plays a role in shifting or strengthening these connections, offering a more dynamic view of how firms manage sustainability and change together. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a quantitative strategy, collecting data from 306 employees working across a range of software firms in China. A structured questionnaire was used to capture perceptions of leadership, organizational climate, strategic agility and innovative behaviors linked to sustainability. Findings Results demonstrated that digital leadership has a positive influence on the development of a green organizational climate, which in turn serves as a key mechanism through which leadership fosters green innovation behaviors among employees. Interestingly, strategic agility enhanced these effects, reflecting that firms that are more agile appear better equipped to convert leadership initiatives into tangible, sustainable innovation efforts. Originality/value Digital leadership’s unique function in establishing environmentally sustainable practices within businesses is still little understood, despite the fact that it has long been linked to more general innovation outcomes. By demonstrating how agility, culture and leadership interact to promote green innovation, this study fills that knowledge vacuum. Beyond advancing the theory, the results provide managers with useful suggestions for ensuring that digital efforts support both environmental and economic objectives.