Review Article Towards a model for sustainable leadership in educational contexts: A moderated mediated analysis of UAE and Hong Kong Eman Elkaleh a , Nagla Ali a , Othman Abu Khurma a,* , Hatem M. El Sherif b a Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates b The British University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Sustainable leadership Teacher collaborative practice School culture Distributed leadership Moderated mediation analysis ABSTRACT Sustainable leadership aims to transcend the heroic assumptions inherent in traditional leadership approaches by fostering enduring value, effective work practices, and systems that prioritize long-term outcomes over a leader’s personal qualities and attributes. This study proposes a theoretical model for sustainable leadership practices in educational contexts. This model serves both as a framework for future research and as a practical tool for evaluating and planning sustainable leadership practices within educational contexts. The study then uses this model as a theoretical framework to investigate sustainable leadership practices in the UAE and Hong Kong from teachers’ perspectives, utilizing a comparative cross-sectional design on PISA 2022 teacher questionnaire data.It investigates the influence of teacher collaborative practices on sustainable leadership practices, while consid- ering the mediating effects of professional development, school culture, and distributed leadership in strength- ening the relationship between collaborative and sustainable leadership practices, as well as examining the moderating role of the country. The findings reveal an average level of sustainable leadership practices in both countries, with the UAE demonstrating higher scores across most variables, attributed to its national sustain- ability agenda and Vision 2030 educational policies, which emphasize collaborative leadership. In contrast, Hong Kong’s competitive, examination-oriented system resulted in lower scores across most variables, except for professional development, which was slightly higher than that of the UAE. School culture, distributed leadership, and professional development play critical mediating roles in this relationship, exerting a greater impact in less developed educational systems like the UAE compared to more developed ones like Hong Kong. 1. Introduction Sustainable leadership (SL) is a recent approach to leadership that aims to create enduring value, work practices, and systems that go beyond short-term gains and performance outcomes without sacrificing current organizational goals and needs (Tomassi et al., 2024). It at- tempts to maintain excellence, enhance creativity and create value for all stakeholders (Yaakob et al., 2020). Sustainable leaders aim to leave a lasting impact and legacy from the first day of appointment (Conway, 2015). Their leadership philosophy allows organizations to move away from the traditional controlling leadership practices toward more rela- tional, collaborative, and participative approaches, leading to more progressive and sustainable growth (Gerard et al., 2017). Sustainability in leadership entails creating value for all stakeholders through the conscientious distribution of resources to attain social, economic, and environmental objectives (Tordera et al., 2020). From an operational perspective, SL seeks to decrease staff turnover, expedite innovations, and generate sustainable outcomes and organizational growth (Avery & Bergsteiner, 2011). SL in schools takes place when teachers and leaders work together to develop capacity for collaborative learning, distributed leadership, innovative pedagogical practices, and shared moral purpose and school vision of achieving continuous learning and constant aca- demic growth (Conway, 2015; Cook, 2014) (see Tables 7–9). 2. Knowledge gaps and contributions While SL is a crucial factor in driving sustainable development within organizations, research on this topic remains in its early stages (Liao, 2022). Much of the existing scholarship on SL focuses on the business sector (e.g., Gerard et al., 2017; Metcalf & Benn, 2013; Visser & * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: eman.elkaleh@ecae.ac.ae (E. Elkaleh), nali@ecae.ac.ae (N. Ali), Othman.abukhurma@ecae.ac.ae (O. Abu Khurma), hatemmelsherif@gmail.com (H.M. El Sherif). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Social Sciences & Humanities Open journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/social-sciences-and-humanities-open https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101478 Received 14 January 2025; Received in revised form 11 March 2025; Accepted 31 March 2025 Social Sciences & Humanities Open 11 (2025) 101478 Available online 9 April 2025 2590-2911/© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).