1 - Vitor Benfica Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI) - Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
2 - ROBERTA DUTRA DE ANDRADE UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO CEARÁ (UFC) - CAMPUS DE QUIXADÁ
3 - Henrique Viana Espinosa de Oliveira NECE-UBI Research Centre and University of Beira Interior - Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI) - Departamento de Gestão e Economia
4 - Nathalia Suchek Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI) - Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Reumo
To address the issue of environmental degradation caused by human activities, substantial transformations in current production and consumption patterns are required. Small-Medium enterprises, in particular, may encounter obstacles due to the lack of different types of resources, impeding their ability to adopt and promote sustainable practices. Moreover, although SMEs account for about 90% of the total business population and about 60-70% of total environmental pollution, they still receive little attention in the literature compared to corporations.
This study aims to explore the implementation of sustainable practices in SMEs, identify homogeneous groups according to their behaviour, and analyse the role of total revenue, resource efficiency investments, green jobs and other control variables in classifying SMEs into clusters
The study adopts the resource-based view to explore and understand the effects of human and financial resources (i.e., green jobs, resource efficiency investments, and total revenue) on the adoption of resource efficiency practices in SMEs.
Cluster analysis (k-modes) was employed to identify homogeneous groups of SMEs' behaviour regarding the adoption of nine sustainable practices.. Then, we ran a multinomial logistic regression model to assess the effects of independent (total revenue, resource efficiency investment and the percentage of green jobs) and control (country income, sector, age) variables and respond to the proposed hypotheses
The study identifies four homogeneous groups of SMEs according to the implementation of sustainable practices. These groups reveal new patterns of behaviour compared to the evidence of previous studies based on past Eurobarometer flash surveys. The results of the study also support the hypothesised relationships that green jobs, investment in resource efficiency and total revenue have an effect on the behaviour of green jobs.
The study concludes that four groups of SMEs can be identified (i.e. Minimum SP, Low SP, Intermediary SP and Advanced SP) and that financial and human resources are relevant in assessing which group an SME will join, and stand out as important resources for companies seeking to implement sustainable practices.
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