Purpose-driven leadership and ESG governance amplification: managing E-S interdependence for supply chain resilience in the aerospace industry

The systemic uncertainty generated by climate change, the energy crisis and geopolitical tensions exposes the fragility of supply chains built on pure efficiency, pushing corporate governance to evolve beyond traditional agency risk mitigation toward the monitoring of non-financial risks. In this scenario, although ESG pillars are conceptually interdependent, their management is often fragmented, limiting organisations' capacity to govern the interdependence between the Environmental (E) and Social (S) dimensions along the supply chain. This contribution proposes Purpose-Driven Leadership as an organisational mechanism capable of amplifying Governance (G), turning corporate purpose from a rhetorical statement into a concrete criterion for strategic decision-making, resource allocation and supplier selection. Through a multiple case study involving two major players in the aerospace sector, based on interviews with senior executives, document analysis (sustainability reports, supplier codes of conduct) and contextual ESG data, the study examines how purpose-oriented leadership expands governance to balance the E-S trade-offs generated by the ecological transition. The aerospace industry was selected for its distinctive features: highly complex, multi-tier and opaque supply chains; intense decarbonisation pressure with direct social repercussions (workforce reskilling, ethical sourcing); and a governance criticality that, given the sector's dual-use nature and geopolitical relevance, turns any environmental or social failure into a systemic risk. Preliminary findings show purpose acting as a "veto principle" in supplier selection and as a catalyst for redesigning governance architectures (cross-functional ESG committees), thereby strengthening supply chain resilience