Building people-centered dynamic capabilities for sustainability: An exploratory multilevel study of sustainability-driven enterprises in Indonesia
Abstract
Sustainability-driven enterprises (SDEs) in emerging economies depend on people, meaning committed leaders, engaged employees, and prepared successors, yet sustainable human resource management research has largely examined formal practices in large firms in developed economies. This study asks how SDEs in an emerging economy develop the people-based capabilities that sustainability requires, and how multi-stakeholder (Pentahelix) interactions across micro, meso, and macro levels shape that human capital development. Using an exploratory, multi-stage qualitative design based on the Gioia methodology, we interviewed ten experts spanning government, academia, industry, community, and media in Indonesia, then convened an expert panel to validate the emerging themes. The analysis identifies five reciprocal cross-level flows through which human capital for sustainability is built: top-down, bottom-up, a generative loop, informal social networks, and lateral interactions. Macro-level mandates and market pressures set the capability requirements a workforce must meet. Meso-level mechanisms such as management development programs, leadership schools, learning management systems, and “social bricolage” turn those requirements into training and orchestration routines. Micro-level moral agency, spiritual commitment, and value-internalization rituals such as weekly “Value Talks” keep people engaged and guard against burnout. A generative loop that codifies tacit leadership wisdom into explicit systems offers a way to address the “Legacy Paradox” of founder-dependent missions, and informal networks act as a “system lubricant” for trust-based collaboration. Read together, these findings treat people development as a coevolutionary, multi-actor process, and they offer HR managers and policymakers concrete guidance for cultivating sustainability champions where formal systems are thin. Keywords: Sustainable human resource management; leadership development; succession planning; knowledge management; employee commitment; Pentahelix collaboration; emerging economies