Examining the factors affecting U.K. manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises’ corporate sustainability behaviour
Authors
Oyedepo, Gbemisola AramideAffiliation
University of BedfordshireIssue Date
2017-01Subjects
SMEsenvironmental sustainability
corporate sustainable development
small to medium-sized enterprises
manufacturing industry
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study explores the factors that affect the corporate sustainability behaviour of UK manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). To date, SMEs have been reported as being generally reluctant to engage in corporate sustainability activities. However, due to their significant negative environmental impacts, volume, and the contributions they make to economic growth and stability, no meaningful progress can be made towards corporate sustainability without SMEs’ involvement. As extant literature has focused more on the corporate sustainability activities of large or multinational companies with limited focus on SMEs, this study contributes to addressing this gap by adopting an SME perspective to exploring the factors affecting their corporate sustainability behaviour. The study was conducted as a qualitative study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with a total of forty SME owner-managers from manufacturing companies in the South-East region of the UK and a focus group conducted with an additional twelve SME owner-managers from the same sector and region. Based on the study’s findings and an elaboration of the Responsible Environmental Behaviour (REB) framework, a framework for exploring the factors affecting SMEs’ corporate sustainability behaviour was developed. This framework suggests that SME Capacity Building in the form of information on corporate sustainability issues as they relate to SMEs, action strategies they can employ for corporate sustainability and transparency of the corporate sustainability business case, as well as Organisational Attitude, Stakeholder Influence and Resource Constraints are the main factors affecting UK manufacturing SMEs’ corporate sustainability behaviour.Publisher
University of BedfordshireType
Thesis or dissertationLanguage
enDescription
A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyCollections
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