WOULD COORDINATION FLEXIBILITY MATTER IF GREEN INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP INFLUENCED MANUFACTURING FIRMS’ SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE? EVIDENCE FROM NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Purpose – Manufacturing firms in North Central Nigeria continue to report weak sustainable performance despite growing leadership commitment to environmental goals: fewer than 12 percent of firms hold certified environmental management systems and the region loses an estimated 12 to 15 percent of productive capacity annually to unreliable energy supply, so leadership commitment alone has not been converting into execution on the factory floor. This study examines whether green innovative leadership (GIL) is positively associated with sustainable performance (SP) among manufacturing firms in North Central Nigeria, and whether this association is statistically mediated by coordination flexibility (CF), the organisational capability that Dynamic Capabilities Theory identifies as the route through which leadership vision is converted into cross-functional execution. Theoretical framework – The study is anchored in Dynamic Capabilities Theory, which underpins the sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring logic linking green innovative leadership to coordination flexibility and sustainable performance, and is supported by Social Learning Theory, which governs the transmission of leadership behaviour to employees through observation and modelling. Design/methodology/approach – A census survey was administered to owners and senior managers of 243 registered medium and large manufacturing firms across the six states and the Federal Capital Territory that make up North Central Nigeria. Of 229 questionnaires retrieved, 221 were valid for analysis (91.0 percent response rate). Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4, with bootstrapping of 5,000 subsamples. Findings – Green innovative leadership is positively and significantly associated with sustainable performance and with coordination flexibility, and coordination flexibility is, in turn, positively and significantly associated with sustainable performance. Coordination flexibility partially mediates the association between green innovative leadership and sustainable performance, indicating that leadership is associated with sustainable performance both directly and indirectly through coordination flexibility. All hypothesised relationships are supported. Practical & social implications of research – Findings indicate that manufacturing firms in North Central Nigeria report stronger sustainable performance where green innovative leadership is paired with deliberate investment in coordination flexibility, rather than pursued as a leadership initiative alone. Originality/value – Green leadership in Nigerian manufacturing has stalled at the point of execution, a pattern this study theorises is linked to functional silos and rigid operational structures that limit how far green vision reaches the factory floor. This study addresses that problem directly by providing the first integrated PLS-SEM test of green innovative leadership, coordination flexibility, and sustainable performance within the Nigerian manufacturing sector, closing the construct, integration, contextual, and methodological gaps left open by prior Western, East Asian, and Latin American studies.