Validation of the measurement model.

This study investigates how ethical leadership enhances environmental performance in manufacturing firms through the mediating role of green organizational identity (GOI) and the moderating role of green organizational culture (GOC). Grounded in the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT), the study develops an integrated framework that explains how leadership, identity, and culture jointly drive sustainability outcomes. Data were collected from 471 top management team members in Turkish manufacturing organizations and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicate that ethical leadership positively affects environmental performance (β = 0.147, p = 0.009) and GOI (β = 0.381, p = 0.000). GOI, in turn, improves environmental performance (β = 0.359, p = 0.000) and mediates the leadership–performance link (β = 0.137, p = 0.000). The findings further demonstrate that GOC strengthens the impact of ethical leadership on GOI (β = 0.122, p = 0.000) and reinforces the GOI–performance relationship (β = 0.142, p = 0.000). Conversely, under low levels of GOC, the direct effect of ethical leadership on environmental performance weakens (β = −0.198, p = 0.000), underscoring culture as a boundary condition. These results advance RBV by highlighting ethical leadership as a strategic intangible resource and extend EMT by showing how identity and culture institutionalize ecological values. The study contributes theoretically by bridging RBV and EMT within a unified sustainability framework and provides practical guidance for managers to embed ethical leadership, identity, and culture into organizational practices to achieve superior environmental outcomes.

本研究探讨伦理型领导如何通过绿色组织身份（green organizational identity, GOI）的中介作用与绿色组织文化（green organizational culture, GOC）的调节作用，提升制造企业的环境绩效。本研究基于资源基础观（Resource-Based View, RBV）与生态现代化理论（Ecological Modernization Theory, EMT），构建了一套整合性分析框架，用以阐释领导行为、组织身份与组织文化如何共同推动可持续发展成果。研究数据取自土耳其制造企业的471名高层管理团队成员，并采用结构方程模型（structural equation modeling, SEM）进行分析。研究结果显示，伦理型领导对环境绩效（β=0.147，p=0.009）与绿色组织身份（β=0.381，p=0.000）均具有显著正向影响。而绿色组织身份亦能显著提升环境绩效（β=0.359，p=0.000），并在领导行为与绩效的关联中发挥中介作用（β=0.137，p=0.000）。研究结果进一步表明，绿色组织文化能够强化伦理型领导对绿色组织身份的影响效应（β=0.122，p=0.000），并增强绿色组织身份与环境绩效之间的关联（β=0.142，p=0.000）。反之，当绿色组织文化水平较低时，伦理型领导对环境绩效的直接影响会显著减弱（β=-0.198，p=0.000），这凸显了组织文化作为边界条件的重要作用。上述研究结果将伦理型领导作为一种战略性无形资源纳入考量，推进了资源基础观的理论发展；同时揭示了组织身份与文化如何将生态价值制度化，拓展了生态现代化理论的研究边界。本研究在统一的可持续发展框架下整合了资源基础观与生态现代化理论，实现了理论层面的交叉融合；同时为管理者提供了实践指引，帮助其将伦理型领导、组织身份与组织文化融入组织运营实践，以达成更优异的环境绩效目标。