Abstract
How has the pressure to adopt the UNSDGs at the global level impacted micro-level, organizational leaders’ capabilities to promote business productivity, profitability, sustainability and social good? Framing the existing SDGs as societal grand challenges (climate change, productivity, and socio-economic inequalities), this study draws from key theoretical contributions on network leadership to highlight the inadequacy of the current technical and financial approach to implement the types of seismic strategic workplace changes required (Barbagila et al., 2021), for socio-economic development (Sharma, Mendy and Shahzad, 2022). This study contributes to current research on the role of leadership in promoting social good firstly, by insightfully critiquing the paradox between resolving the grand challenges faced by energy companies (climate change, productivity, profitability and economic development) and the inadequacy of the existing technical and financial approach promoting socio-environmental good (Lindbergh et al., 2022). This existing void/lacuna in current leadership and strategic decision-making discourse has led to this study’s examination of the UNSDGs as drivers socio-economic good, the role of leadership in promoting sustainability and the extent to which social good in an Arabic context is observable. To do so, we insightfully critique and draw on Network Leadership theory to frame leaders’ techno-operational capabilities within micro-level organizational change and the impacts and implications of their decision-making on macro-level socio-economic and cultural good. Drawing from 26 senior leaders’ semi-structured interviews from 8 of Bahrain’s key energy companies and using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Thematic Analysis Procedure, we surfaced 4 thematic areas, which led to our development of a new Sustainable Network Leadership Framework for and on ways that organizational leaders can address the SDG challenges at an inter-organizational and societal level. We contribute to the leadership and SDG literature by 1) re-calibrating current leadership scholarship’s individualistic competence approach to a collective networks approach; 2) developing a new sustainable network leadership framework to promote social good; 3) extending leaders’ micro-level role to a macro-level one in promoting social good. The theoretical and practical implications and limitations of this study are explicated, and future research directions in leadership scholarship’s role in social good identified.