Accomplishing sustainable performance through leaders' competencies, green entrepreneurial orientation, and innovation in an emerging economy: Moderating role of institutional support

Abstract Implementing sustainable initiatives requires a competent leader who can sense the importance of entrepreneurial opportunities to outperform their competitors using interpersonal and sustainable skills. Considering this, current research seeks the underlying role of green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) and green innovation (GI) between leaders' competencies and sustainable performance in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) of an emerging economy. This paper also examines institutional support as a moderator between GI and sustainable performance. The data from 329 SMEs using multi‐respondent and time‐lagged strategies were collected and analyzed using “structural equation modeling.” The results demonstrate that leaders' competencies significantly predicted GEO and GI, while GI strongly influences economic performance. Additionally, the association between GI and sustainable performance is strengthened by institutional support. Theoretically, this study empirically tested that leaders' sustainable competencies can lead to GI and sustainable performance. For practitioners, this study proposes that institutional support is an important factor that should be properly exploited for better social, environmental, and economic performance.