Role of Cooperative Leadership in Driving Technological Innovation for Sustainable Solutions

This paper examines the critical role of leadership in fostering technological innovation within cooperatives, drawing from multiple recent studies across diverse sectors. The researcher set to determine the role of cooperative leadership in driving technological innovation and to evaluate how such leadership can facilitate the development and implementation of sustainable solutions within cooperative organizations. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. To guide this study, research questions and hypothesis were formulated in line with the objectives of the study. The study was anchored on Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) Theory because of its relatedness. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The sample size of the study was 150 selected cooperative leaders, cooperative members and external stakeholders in Awka South Local Government. Data collected were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Inferential statistics such as chi-square tests was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that there is a 5 % significant effect between strategic Cooperative leadership and technological innovation that can foster sustainable solutions within the Cooperative organization with a critical value of 5.991. The study therefore, recommends that cooperatives can strengthen their leadership capabilities, adopt innovative technologies, and achieve sustainable growth while remaining aligned with their core values.