Activating Corporate Sustainability: How Environmental Accounting and Leadership Translate Sustainable Core Values Into Performance

Abstract

While organizations increasingly adopt sustainable core values (SCV), the mechanisms through which these values translate into tangible corporate sustainability performance (CSP) remain underexplored, particularly in emerging economies. Grounded in and extending the natural resource-based view (NRBV), this study investigates the mediating role of environmental accounting practices (EAP) and the moderating role of sustainable leadership within a moderated mediation model. Data were collected via a survey of 345 managers from Vietnamese manufacturing firms, and the proposed hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings confirm that SCV has a significant positive impact on EAP, which, in turn, positively influences CSP. Furthermore, the results substantiate the crucial mediating role of EAP in translating values into performance. Crucially, the study validates the moderating effect of sustainable leadership, demonstrating that the influence of SCV on the adoption of EAP is significantly stronger when leadership is highly sustainability-oriented. Theoretically, this research advances NRBV by elucidating how sustainable values translate into performance through accounting practices and leadership. Practically, it calls for organizations to move beyond declarative value statements by investing in robust environmental accounting systems and cultivating sustainable leadership.