Environmental and Social Goals in Spanish SMEs: The Moderating Effect of Family Influence

Alvaro Rojas and Daniel Lorenzo
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Alvaro Rojas: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain
Daniel Lorenzo: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the predominant form of firm in the economy worldwide, so it is becoming increasingly important to understand the role they play in the green transition. It is urgent to understand how SMEs establish their goals that reorient their strategies and activities towards the creation of greater environmental value. From a stakeholder perspective, this study analyzes the environmental and social goals that create value in SMEs. We identify family influence as an important determinant for the establishment of environmental goals in SMEs that has not been sufficiently studied. We tested the hypotheses in a sample of 132 Spanish SMEs. Our findings indicate that setting social goals and having family characteristics have a direct positive effect on the environmental goals of SMEs. In addition, family influence positively moderates the effect of social goals, increasing its effect in the establishment of environmental goals for the creation of value in SMEs. This is due to the desire of family SMEs to increase their socio-emotional wealth and their transgenerational intention by incorporating the requirements of stakeholders. These findings highlight the importance of particularly considering the family characteristics of SMEs when analyzing the role that SMEs play in the green transition and should also be important for policy makers when designing environmental policies.

Keywords: environmental goals; social goals; SMEs; stakeholder; family influence; family firms; socioemotional wealth; PLS-SEM (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 (2)

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