Exploring the reality of corporate sustainability strategy and sales performance in entrepreneurial SMEs: the mediating effect of innovation and sustainability performance

Mercedes Rubio-Andrés (), Santiago Gutiérrez-Broncano (), Jorge Linuesa-Langreo () and Miguel Ángel Sastre-Castillo ()
Additional contact information
Mercedes Rubio-Andrés: Complutense University of Madrid
Santiago Gutiérrez-Broncano: Castilla La Mancha University
Jorge Linuesa-Langreo: Castilla La Mancha University
Miguel Ángel Sastre-Castillo: Complutense University of Madrid

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 2025, vol. 21, issue 1, No 90, 34 pages

Abstract: Abstract Incorporating sustainability into a company’s strategy is crucial for long-term success. This involves considering environmental, social and economic factors when making strategic decisions. This study investigates how implementing a corporate sustainability strategy (CSS) affects the sales performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It focuses specifically on how innovation and sustainability performance individually and sequentially mediate this relationship. Furthermore, we analyse the moderating effect of ICT strategy on the relationship between CSS and innovation. We collected data from 1,113 surveys on managers of Spanish entrepreneurial SMEs and analysed them using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Our findings suggest that both innovation and sustainability performance mediate the positive relationship between CSS and sales performance. We confirm ICT strategy as a moderating variable, enhancing innovation to a greater degree in firms that are more concerned about sustainability.

Keywords: Corporate sustainability strategy; Sustainability performance; Innovation; Sales performance; Entrepreneurial SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11365-025-01102-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:intemj:v:21:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11365-025-01102-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... urship/journal/11365

DOI: 10.1007/s11365-025-01102-8

Access Statistics for this article

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal is currently edited by Salvador Roig

More articles in International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().