Role of change leadership in attaining sustainable growth and curbing poverty: A case of Pakistan tourism industry

Abstract

This study has proposed to apply change leadership as a vehicle forward for sustaining the growth of the tourism industry to eradicate poverty through the Pakistani tourism industry. Applying a mixed method approach, this article has attempted to uncover the role a change leader can play to help achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals of poverty reduction. In this study, one of the authors interviewed stakeholders of the tourism industry to find out the major drivers of the industry and identify the leadership style that may prove to be effective in the said industry. In the next phase of the study, a survey method approach was used where different tourism companies and hotel chains were included for analysis. The study aimed to check employee’s perception of change leadership and its impact on their resilience and ultimately the sustainable organization performance of companies’ operationalizing in the sector with moderating impact of sustainable tourism attitude in times of a crisis. In total, 430 full-time workers in the tourism industry were contacted for a self-administered survey achieving a response rate of 83%. The findings of the study confirmed that in the presence of a change leader, the process of adaptation to sudden changing situations amidst financial crises, pandemic, and climatic change, becomes bearable and employees can cope with the work situations without pushing them to quit the industry. The study has a significant contribution toward a rapidly growing and focused industry, which can play a major role in the economy of any country leading toward job creation and poverty reduction.

Leadership styles and sustainable performance

“…Responsible leadership involves the acknowledgment of environmental concerns and the integration of sustainable practices into decision-making processes to foster ecologically responsible actions within organizations. In addition, servant leadership (Abbas et al, 2021;Alafeshat & Tanova, 2019), entrepreneurial leadership (Alsharif et al, 2021;Pauceanu et al, 2021), digital leadership (Khaw et al, 2022), change leadership (Bashir et al, 2022), sustainable leadership (Merma-Molina et al, 2022), authentic leadership (Daskou & Tzokas, 2023), environmental leadership (Boeske, 2023), transformational leadership (Hanif et al, 2023), and ambidextrous leadership (Katou et al, 2023) play pivotal roles in driving sustainable performance to create value not only for organizations but also for society and the environment. According to these studies, there is a lack of consensus regarding the specific leadership styles that play the most significant role in driving sustainable performance.…”