Social Economy, Environmental Proactivity, Eco-Innovation and Performance in the Spanish Wine Sector

Félix Calle, Ángela González-Moreno, Inmaculada Carrasco and Manuel Vargas-Vargas
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Félix Calle: Faculty of Economics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02080 Albacete, Spain
Ángela González-Moreno: Faculty of Economics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02080 Albacete, Spain
Inmaculada Carrasco: Faculty of Economics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02080 Albacete, Spain
Manuel Vargas-Vargas: Faculty of Economics, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02080 Albacete, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-26

Abstract: Concerned about climate change, cooperatives in the wine sector are beginning to adapt their strategies, guided by cooperative principles that encompass high social responsibility and the pursuit of community values. In this context and focused on the analysis of the decisions that drive firms to be more environmentally sustainable, our goal is twofold. On the one hand, we wish to examine whether there exist differences between cooperative and non-cooperative firms as regards their environmental proactivity. On the other hand, we hope to demonstrate the diversity of behaviors within the category of cooperative firms, identifying the possible patterns of environmental proactivity in Spanish cooperatives in the wine sector. We first conducted a difference of means t -test for independent samples ( n = 251; sampled in 2017)—cooperatives (51) vs. non cooperative firms (200)- and then a two-stage cluster analysis and a subsequent variance analysis, using SPSS 24. Our results show no significant differences between cooperative and non-cooperative firms concerning their environmental behavior and underlines the diversity within the cooperatives in the wine sector as regards their environmental proactivity, revealing the existence of proactive, preventive and activist patterns of behavior. These patterns also show differences in the motivations for their environmental behaviors and their assessment of financial performance.

Keywords: cooperatives; wine sector; eco-innovation; environmental proactivity; performance; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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