This study investigates the core competencies essential for product designers to excel in cross-cultural global markets, with particular emphasis on implications for human resource development and organizational leadership. As design practices increasingly transcend cultural and geographical boundaries, designers are required to integrate advanced technical proficiency, creative problem-solving, technological adaptability, and cultural intelligence to create inclusive, socially responsible, and market-relevant products. Employing a mixed-methods approach—including focus groups and surveys with design professionals, industry executives, and academic leaders—the research identifies key competencies such as flexibility, intercultural communication, ethical integrity, and systems thinking. The findings underscore the necessity of balancing technical expertise with emotional intelligence and transformational leadership capabilities to effectively lead diverse, cross-functional teams. These competencies contribute significantly to fostering innovation, enhancing employee well-being and job satisfaction, and strengthening organizational resilience, thereby supporting sustainable human resource strategies. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of continuous professional development and lifelong learning in cultivating culturally competent and ethically driven design talent. The insights offer strategic guidance for human resource professionals, organizational leaders, and educational institutions aiming to develop adaptive, inclusive, and future-ready design capabilities aligned with evolving global demands.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in achieving environmental sustainability, particularly in developing economies where regulatory enforcement and resource constraints remain significant challenges. Drawing on Institutional Theory, this study examines how green leadership influences environmental performance in Ghanaian SMEs, with digital innovation as a mediating variable and environmental culture as a moderating variable. Institutional Theory provides the conceptual foundation for explaining how normative pressures embedded in leadership values and organizational culture, alongside mimetic pressures associated with digital innovation adoption, shape firms’ environmental outcomes. Using survey data collected from SMEs in Ghana and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the results revealed that green leadership has a significant positive effect on both digital innovation and environmental performance. Digital innovation also significantly enhances environmental performance and partially mediates the relationship between green leadership and environmental performance. Notably, the findings demonstrated that environmental culture significantly moderates the relationship between digital innovation and environmental performance, with the effect stronger in organizations with a well-developed environmental culture. This indicates that internalized environmental values amplify the effectiveness of digital innovation initiatives. The study contributes to the sustainability and organizational literature by extending Institutional Theory to the SME context in a developing economy and by clarifying the conditional role of environmental culture in translating digital innovation into superior environmental performance. Practically, the findings suggest that SME leaders and policymakers should promote environmentally oriented leadership, invest in digital innovation, and cultivate strong environmental cultures to enhance sustainability outcomes.