Abstract

As the global demand for a greener economy increases, so too does the pressure on the world’s energy industry to transform its practices and comply with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Worldwide, energy companies are required to transit to significantly reduce the global economy’s reliance on fossil fuels as the main source of reliable energy source. Additionally, the organisational complexity involved calls for more resilient energy companies to adapt and be more responsive to future energy transition challenges, including supplying more affordable, sustainable and greener energy. These challenges and changes to how we use energy also call for more suitable leadership approaches than what current transactionally based research suggests. To find out the extent to which firms are adapting to the energy demands and challenges, the authors investigated leadership capacity and resilience development in nine Bahrain Energy companies through semi-structured interviews with its senior leaders. One of the study’s key findings is that in addition to the need for organisational resilience within firms and across the sector, the Bahrain oil industry also needs transformational network leadership if they are to address the growing challenges and be sustainable. This paper contributes to Network Leadership Literature by identifying the types of Transformation Network Leadership practices and processes that will help the energy companies adapt to change and develop resilience in addressing UNSDGs.