Integrating sustainability into new product development: The role of organizational leadership and culture

While corporate sustainability research continues to grow, we contend that key organizational factors influence the ability of firms to strategically integrate sustainability orientation to the performance of new products. Using data from 349 product developers, this paper examines organizational factors that instill a sustainability orientation leading to market performance of new products. Specifically, we construct a model where organizational leadership (i.e., leadership practices, employee incentives, and a focus on patents), and culture (i.e., innovation culture and geocentricity) lead to sustainability orientation that results in the translation of firm resources into improved new product development outcomes. Our results support our contention; sustainability orientated firms are likely to realize improved market performance of new products as these firms benefit from an innovative organizational culture exposed to the global environment with complementary leadership that provides focus and reward mechanisms for employees.