Integrating green transformational leadership, green HRM, and green innovation to enhance sustainable performance in hotels: Insights from PLS-SEM, NCA, and cIPMA

Research background: As environmental concerns rise globally, an increasing number of hotels are implementing sustainable performance (SP) management practices, making sustainability a strategic priority in the hospitality industry. These efforts aim to balance economic growth with environmental responsibility. Although SP strategies are widely embraced, the mechanisms through which Green Transformational Leadership (GTL), Green Human Resource Management (GHRM), and Green Innovation (GI) synergistically influence SP remain insufficiently explored. Purpose of the article: This study aims to investigate how GTL and GHRM practices cultivate employees’ internal capabilities to foster GI, thereby enhancing SP within the hotel industry. Guided by the resource-based view and ability–motivation–opportunity theories, this research addresses a critical gap in existing studies by examining the complex relationships among GTL, GHRM, GI, and SP with a unique hybrid methodological approach, and offers comprehensive insights into how these constructs jointly shape sustainability outcomes in hotels. Methods: Adopting a quantitative, survey-based research design, data were collected from 310 employees across 17 three- to five-star hotels in Taiwan via a 5-point Likert-type-scale questionnaire. SmartPLS 4 facilitated the analysis. The methodological approach was combined with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), necessity-based logic via necessary condition analysis (NCA), and combined importance-performance map analysis (cIPMA). Findings & value added: PLS-SEM results indicate GTL, GHRM, and GI significantly influence hotels' SP. GHRM and GI exert a sequential co-mediating effect on the GTL–SP relationship; however, GTL's direct impact on GI is not significant. NCA confirms all predictors are necessary conditions for SP. With an SP target of 85, cIPMA quantifies the minimum thresholds necessary to enhance SP as 31.464% for GHRM, 41.902% for GI, and 53.705% for GTL. This study enriches sustainable hospitality literature by exploring the GTL–GHRM–GI–SP nexus. It contributes a multi-method integrated PLS-SEM, NCA, and cIPMA model to sustainability research, integrating sufficiency and necessity logics. It offers theoretical insights into the interplay of GTL, GHRM, and GI, and provides practical strategies for hoteliers’ SP.