Facilitators of and Barriers to Sustainable Development in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Descriptive Exploratory Study in Romania

Abstract

In the context of growing concerns regarding the deterioration of the environment and the increase in social inequalities, the concept of sustainability emerged as a response of companies, in order to contribute to community goodwill. The drivers and obstacles for the businesses engaging in sustainable policies have been explored at large by scientific literature. However, research gaps were observed, namely regarding SMEs, that tend to have a less formal and more fragmented approach to sustainability. The goal of our study is to determine the main barriers and facilitators for sustainability that Romanian SMEs face, and the connections between them and with the firms’ characteristics. Our study identifies the main barriers and facilitators for adopting sustainable practices in SMEs located in Romania, based on a study on a panel of 71 firms. The association rule method of data mining and quantitative statistic methods were used to explore barrier–facilitator relationships and how they vary depending on the firms’ or managers’ characteristics. The results show a wide range of drivers and obstacles for implementing sustainability in SMEs, while identifying connections between different barriers and facilitators and correlations with the firms’ characteristics. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of factors that impact sustainable behavior in SMEs and identify further aspects to be explored.

Implications of Entrepreneurial Intentions of Romanian Secondary Education Students, over the Romanian Business Market Development

“…Adaptation to the context is what allows SMEs to be successful in their business. In this way, another reason is revealed, this being the ability to adapt [55].…”

Adoption of Green Environmental Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Entrepreneur and Business Policies Patterns in Romania

“…The pressure for conformity and the managers' inexperience may generate a greater perceived risk of failure and fear of insufficient human resources to adopt new practices [48,57,58]. When financial and human resources are limited-those being the two most frequent barriers for sustainability mentioned by SMEs [59]-and managers focus on firm's survival, they may choose to adopt individual practices than an entire environmental management [10,60].…”

“…The purpose of this approach is to test and adjust the research tool in real conditions, using the same type of respondents who complete the final questionnaire. Based on previous research [59], it was estimated that the size of 71 SMEs is sufficient for the significance level of 95% (z = 1.96) population size of 11,000 (source: termene.ro, reference year 2017) and with a margin of error slightly over 10% (e = 11.59).…”

Integrated Management Solution for a Sustainable SME—Selection Proposal Using AHP

“…A business becomes sustainable using innovative techniques, the transition to green technologies and investment in the future by stimulating creativity [39]. A business's sustainable development strategy should consider the following main goals [40]:…”

“…There are authors [41,42] who highlight the difficulties of implementing a sustainable development model in companies, especially in the case of SMEs. In this sense, Costache et al [40] by citing Gilespie [41], find that this difficulty in implementing sustainable development is related to a complex issue involving multidisciplinary interactions in areas such as philosophy, law, and economics.…”