IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i20p11326-d655595.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greta Thunberg and the Generation of Moral Authority: A Systematic Literature Review on the Characteristics of Thunberg’s Leadership

Author

Listed:
  • Nessica Nässén

    (Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Komalsingh Rambaree

    (Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

Abstract

Numerous efforts have been made by political leaders worldwide to prevent further climate change and develop sustainable solutions. However, due to conflicting political positions and the complex solutions required, attempts to limit climate change have proven largely ineffective. For these reasons, a new kind of environmental change leader is needed to catalyze significant societal transformation. In recent years, Greta Thunberg has become a major spokesperson for environmental issues, mobilizing people worldwide to act against climate change. Utilizing a theoretical framework based on transformational leadership and moral authority, this article discusses, by means of a systematic literature review, the characteristics of Thunberg’s leadership. Using the PRISMA protocol, data were collected from various national and international media sources. With the assistance of ATLAS-ti.v.9 Scientific Software Development GmbH, Berlin, Germany, qualitative deductive content analysis was performed to analyze the data. In this review, we discuss how Thunberg embodies five characteristics that are typical of moral authority, thereby becoming a transformational leader who influences the possibility of preventing climate change and promotes more sustainable solutions. This article concludes that it is through the characteristics of moral authority that Greta Thunberg has become a global transformational leader for those defending the natural environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Nessica Nässén & Komalsingh Rambaree, 2021. "Greta Thunberg and the Generation of Moral Authority: A Systematic Literature Review on the Characteristics of Thunberg’s Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11326-:d:655595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11326/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11326/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Hay, 2010. "The relevance of ecocentrism, personal development and transformational leadership to sustainability and identity," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(3), pages 163-171.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mona Jabbari & Zahra Ahmadi & Rui Ramos, 2022. "Defining a Digital System for the Pedestrian Network as a Conceptual Implementation Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pasi Heikkurinen & Tarja Ketola, 2012. "Corporate Responsibility and Identity: from a Stakeholder to an Awareness Approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 326-337, July.
    2. Stanley Y. B. Huang & Chih-Wen Ting & Yu-Ming Fei, 2021. "A Multilevel Model of Environmentally Specific Social Identity in Predicting Environmental Strategies: Evidence from Technology Manufacturing Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Shunyi Zhou & Dapeng Zhang & Chan Lyu & Hongfeng Zhang, 2018. "Does Seeing “Mind Acts Upon Mind” Affect Green Psychological Climate and Green Product Development Performance? The Role of Matching Between Green Transformational Leadership and Individual Green Valu," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Philip Hallinger & Suparak Suriyankietkaew, 2018. "Science Mapping of the Knowledge Base on Sustainable Leadership, 1990–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Olivier Boiral & Nicolas Raineri & David Talbot, 2018. "Managers’ Citizenship Behaviors for the Environment: A Developmental Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 395-409, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11326-:d:655595. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.