Barriers and drivers for the adoption of industrial sustainability measures in European SMEs: Empirical evidence from chemical and metalworking sectors

Abstract

As industrial sustainability measures and interventions play a central role in enhancing the sustainability performance in industrial firms, it is of great importance to properly understand the factors that might influence the decision-making process leading to their adoption, namely barriers and drivers. However, there is scarce empirical literature discussing barriers and drivers to industrial sustainability as well as the effect of contextual factors or of the firm's approach towards sustainability issues. For this reason, we conducted an exploratory investigation in 26 small and medium enterprises operating in the chemical and metalworking manufacturing sectors across Germany and Italy. Our preliminary findings show that the sampled firms are mainly hindered by economic barriers and fostered by external drivers. The investigation highlighted the influence of the contextual factors sector, country, and size on the perception of barriers and drivers. Moreover, the presence of a dedicated manager for sustainability, the number of certifications held by a firm, and a holistic definition of sustainability, seem to affect the barriers and drivers perceived by the sampled industrial decision-makers. The paper concludes by offering insights to both theoretical and practical discussion over the adoption of industrial sustainability measures, while also providing additional knowledge to practitioners and policy makers on critical areas for the improvement of industrial sustainability.