Participative leadership: How to support employee empowerment to foster sustainable and green transition at an organizational level
Linnala, Timo (2025)
2025
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025053018445
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025053018445
Tiivistelmä
The world we live in has faced immense global challenges, particularly over the past decade. One of the most central and critical of these challenges affects individuals, nations, and organizations alike—climate change.
To overcome this global emergency, the world needs intellectual effort, planning, innovation, and, above all, implementation. Every individual should strive to contribute to the green transition through their actions—at home, in the workplace, and during their leisure time.
This master’s thesis aims to explore perspectives through which the green transition can be fostered at the organizational level by means of leadership. It investigates approaches to participative leadership, with the goal of identifying leadership elements that have the potential to support individuals in engaging in sustainable practices within organizations.
The research for this thesis includes a desk study and a focus group interview, through which current perspectives on participative leadership and its organizational impacts are analyzed.
The desk study focuses on the approaches of democratic leadership, transformational leadership, and sustainable leadership, presenting their definitions based on current academic research. The focus group interview serves to validate the findings and perspectives.
In addition, the thesis outlines roles, key characteristics, capabilities, and values associated with participative leadership—both from the perspective of leaders and employees.
This thesis offers valuable insights into the effects of leadership on organizational members and highlights how participative leadership can support individual actions that contribute to the green transition within organizations. It also proposes potential frameworks for future research and reflects on the learning generated through the thesis process.
To overcome this global emergency, the world needs intellectual effort, planning, innovation, and, above all, implementation. Every individual should strive to contribute to the green transition through their actions—at home, in the workplace, and during their leisure time.
This master’s thesis aims to explore perspectives through which the green transition can be fostered at the organizational level by means of leadership. It investigates approaches to participative leadership, with the goal of identifying leadership elements that have the potential to support individuals in engaging in sustainable practices within organizations.
The research for this thesis includes a desk study and a focus group interview, through which current perspectives on participative leadership and its organizational impacts are analyzed.
The desk study focuses on the approaches of democratic leadership, transformational leadership, and sustainable leadership, presenting their definitions based on current academic research. The focus group interview serves to validate the findings and perspectives.
In addition, the thesis outlines roles, key characteristics, capabilities, and values associated with participative leadership—both from the perspective of leaders and employees.
This thesis offers valuable insights into the effects of leadership on organizational members and highlights how participative leadership can support individual actions that contribute to the green transition within organizations. It also proposes potential frameworks for future research and reflects on the learning generated through the thesis process.