Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy in European SMEs: Investigating the Role of Green Jobs and Skills

Francesca Bassi and Mariangela Guidolin
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Francesca Bassi: Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
Mariangela Guidolin: Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-21

Abstract: This study explored the size and potential of green employment for circular economy (CE) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union, and investigated the role of green jobs and skills for the implementation of CE practices. The data were collected in a Eurobarometer survey, and refer to resource efficiency, green markets, and CE procedures. Lack of environmental expertise is one of the factors that might be perceived as an obstacle when trying to implement resource-efficiency actions. Previous research has shown that, although resource-efficiency practices are adopted by firms in all European countries, there are differences both within and between countries. The analysis of the determinants of green behavior by European SMEs was completed by a study of heterogeneity across firms and within countries with a multilevel latent class model, a hierarchical clustering method. A general important observation is that having no workers dedicated to green jobs is strongly correlated to the probability of adopting resource-efficiency practices, while perceiving the need of extra environmental skills has a positive effect on the intention to implement actions in the future. Other characteristics of the firms play a significant impact on resource efficiency: in general, older and bigger firms, with larger yearly turnover, are more prone to implement actions.

Keywords: resource efficiency; environmental skills; green economy; multilevel modeling; circular economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:12136-:d:671290

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