Drivers and Barriers of Sustainability Practices in Emerging and Developing Economies

Abstract

This paper examines the drivers and barriers to adopt sustainability practices in Pakistani SMEs. Corporate sustainability has become important issue during the last few decades. Existing literature focus on large companies and thereby paid limited attention to SMEs. There is an increased understanding that SMEs should focus on sustainability practices to remain competitive. There is limited research that capture the extent of adoption of sustainability practices as well as its drivers and barriers. This paper fills the gap and uses institutional theory to explain the drivers and barriers of sustainability practices in SMEs of Pakistan. This qualitative research was conducted in Multan, Pakistan where interviewees from the managers of eight SMEs in the manufacturing sector were conducted. In addition to this questionnaire was sent to SMEs in order to capture the extent of the adoption of sustainability practices. The research findings show certain drivers: commitment by top management, competitor pressure, stakeholders’ pressure and barriers: lack of resources, lack of training and education and lack of awareness for the adoption of sustainability practices. This paper contributes to the sustainability literature in emerging and developing countries. Through an increased awareness of drivers and barriers, policy makers and practitioners may take necessary steps to improve sustainability practices in SMEs