Conceptualizing businesses as social actors: A framework for understanding sustainability actions in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Abstract

Small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can play a crucial role in advancing environmental and social well-being. Yet various-often conflicting-explanations have been offered to clarify why SMEs pursue sustainability. Some arguments foreground possibilities of profit maximization, whereas others emphasize individual values and convictions. Research supporting such contradicting explanations is often biased towards large enterprises or small, innovative frontrunners. In this article, we examine the underlying drivers of social and environmental interventions of SMEs by exploring empirical data from a survey of over 1,600 Canadian SMEs and complementary indepth interviews. We argue that sustainability actions of SMEs can be understood by viewing these firms as social actors-organizations that are shaped by individual values, internal and external interpersonal relationships, and are embedded in a social environment. This conceptualization directs attention to the full range of factors that shape sustainability engagement of SMEs and highlights frequently overlooked forms of sustainability-oriented actions.

An analysis of environmental sustainability in small & medium‐sized enterprises: Patterns and trends

“…Another main issue observed during this research study was the lack of research that explored China and the United States, even though the United States and China contribute more greenhouse gases than the other countries. Our research, consistent with previous meta‐analyses, shows studies in Europe make up the majority of the articles (e.g., Falle, Rauter, Engert, & Baumgartner, ; Galdeano‐Gómez, Pérez‐Mesa, & Godoy‐Durán, ; Lynch‐Wood & Williamson, ; Rahbauer, Menapace, Menrad, & Lang, ; Starčević, Zrnić, & Mijoč, ), followed by Asian studies (e.g., Alziady & Enayah, ; Dhillon, Bentley, & Bukoye, ; Nejati, Quazi, Amran, & Ahmad, ) and North American studies (e.g., Westman et al, ).…”

CSR-related competitiveness and legitimacy in MSMEs

“…MSMEs are organizations in which interpersonal relationships and informal communication are extremely important (Russo and Tencati, 2009;Stubblefield Loucks et al, 2010;Machová et al, 2016;Westman et al, 2019) so that, when these are well managed, they can be essential elements encouraging stability and organizational security. The cultivation of proximity in relationships with workers and in the overall social environment stabilizes employees' expectations of social relationships and generates a more or less generalized climate of trust that radiates to all stakeholders (i.e., suppliers, clients, communities, and even competitors) (Vance, 2006;Ongori, 2007;Rettab et al, 2009;Akintayo, 2010;Ali et al, 2010;Looser and Wehrmeyer, 2015).…”

Co-creation, co-evolution and co-governance: understanding green businesses and urban transformations

“…At the business level, recent scholarship on urban sustainability emphasizes the capacity for co-evolution between business ecosystem innovations and the city's sustainability visions and policies, which, in turn, are situated within the city's physical constraints, knowledge systems and socio-economic relationships (Kummitha and Crutzen 2017). Green businesses can be understood as social actors advancing environmental values through the formation of strong and positive interactions with cities to achieve common sustainability goals (Westman et al 2019). However, the co-evolution mechanism also needs to effectively address the changing socio-economic needs and trade-offs of business innovation versus upscaling; otherwise, the co-evolutionary pathway may reverse towards unsustainable ends and maladaptive conditions, or simply collapse (Walker and Meyers 2004;Ma et al 2018a).…”