Beyond Structural Interventions: The Human Architecture Shaping ESG Integration in Corporate Systems

Despite the promotion of ESG in corporate discourse, substantive integration of ESG principles into business practices remains challenging. This study applies and extends Meadows' leverage framework to examine ESG integration in UAE-listed firms. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with ESG report preparers, aided by template analysis, the research uncovers a reliance on surface-level interventions, while deeper interventions, particularly organisational goals and the underlying paradigm, receive comparatively little attention. The study identifies three mediating factors: awareness and education, issue salience and leadership and agency, bridging cognition and systemic structure. Awareness enables the internalisation of ESG values, salience determines which issues gain strategic attention and leadership translates intent into action. These mediators form the human architecture of systemic change. The study contributes to systems-based ESG theory, showing that meaningful transformation requires not just structural redesign but also informed, salient and values-driven leadership capable of integrating ESG into organisational culture and purpose.