Unpacking the role of innovation capability: Exploring the impact of leadership style on green procurement via a natural resource-based perspective

In response to the growing urgency of environmental concerns in civil society, governments have been accelerating their pursuit of green procurement. However, green procurement faces substantial barriers and challenges that are internal to the governmental organizations. Using a natural resource-based view as the theoretical lens, this study developed and tested a model on how leadership styles and innovation capability influence green procurement. The findings showed that neither transformational nor transactional leadership styles influence green procurement, although they do influence innovation capability. Notably, innovation capability fully mediates the relationship between both transformational and transactional leadership styles and green procurement. Our findings offer a more advanced understanding of the impact of leadership style on e-procurement and the role of innovation capability, thereby addressing the crucial questions of how leadership style and innovation capability can enhance green procurement to improve environmental sustainability.