Abstract
Leadership is essential in every organisation especially in the fast-changing world of global business. It helps in enhancing organisational effectiveness, promoting change and innovation and drive ethical conduct. Leadership styles are a crucial factor affecting the success and growth of Australian SMEs. It provides insights into the most effective ways for leaders to manage and motivate their employees and foster a positive work culture that can promote growth by making strategic decisions. In the current world where number of environmental difficulties and social responsibilities are taking place study of sustainable business is of utmost importance. It helps to minimise the negative impact on the environment while maximising the positive contributions in society. Leadership plays a key role in determining the path that sustainable initiatives take and whether or not they are successful in business. Sustainable business practise can help reduce environmental impact, improve a reputation, and help to increase the loyalty of customers. This research aims to study leadership styles and their effect on sustainable business practices and business performance in the Australian food industry. Sustainable business practice is an inherent part of the food industry and affects every aspect of the organisation. The goal is to identify which leadership style will most likely enhance a sustainable business practice, specifically in the food industry and in the Australian context. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine the leadership style that contributes to developing a sustainable business practice in the Food industry in Australia. The researcher took a qualitative study approach using 10 in-depth interviews with the leaders of the food business from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The data was collected using convenient sampling and the leaders from the business were approached. During the interview, the researcher prepared a discussion guide that was specifically prepared for this study and was in the form of a semi-structured discussion. The duration of the interviews ranged from 15 to 40 minutes, and it was broken into two parts. The first set of discussions was mostly regarding leadership styles in the business and the second was focused on discussing how businesses apply sustainable business practices. The findings of the study show most food businesses practice a transformational leadership style to bring sustainable change to the business. This research significantly offers a grasp of leadership styles present in the food business as well as a consequence of those styles for the promotion of sustainable business practices.