Defining and Developing Administrative Sustainability Leadership in Local Government

摘要

A great challenge of our time is to sustain economic development while protecting the natural environment. Local government in the U.S. has been a primary ground for sustainability practices for a long time. The literature has suggested that the progression of local sustainability has been largely driven by rising environmental and sociopolitical pressures faced by local communities on one hand, but held back on the other by concerns for economic development as well as the governments’ institutional arrangements in response to the pressure. The role of public administrators in local sustainability is largely ignored. Do administrators in local government—the key implementers—make a difference in sustainability? If so, how much does administrative leadership influence local sustainability? Again, if so, what is the behavioral profile of these administrative leaders who successfully promote sustainability? Using a national database from U.S. cities, this study provides an organizational change explanation to examine the role of administrative leadership in local sustainability. It finds that administrative leadership plays a substantial role in implementing sustainability initiatives in local government. Successful sustainability leaders engage citizens, enhance technical expertise, mobilize financial resources, and develop managerial execution capacity for sustainability. Strong leadership helps overcome dispersed public perspectives, organizational constraints, and technical challenges in local sustainability.