Factors Influencing Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Iran: A Case Study of Food Industry

Gholamhossein Hosseininia,Ali Ramezani

doi:10.3390/su8101010

Gholamhossein Hosseininia, Ali Ramezani

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su8101010

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Oct 11, 2016
Citations: 114	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Tehran

Abstract

This study sought to establish the social and environmental factors that influence sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) in Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It also attempted to identify whether the demographic background of the entrepreneur influences the SE in SMEs of the Iranian food industry. A mixed method approach, employing the use of questionnaires and interviews from a sample size of approximately 130 participants and 12 owner-managers of SMEs in food industry, was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and several inferential analyses. Findings showed that certain characteristics of the entrepreneur, including work experience and education, have a significant impact on SE. Furthermore, out of the eight identified factors, according to the participants’ perception, the most important factors towards sustainable performance of SMEs in food industry are social factors, including customer orientation, as well as human resources and environmental factors, including recycling and the future of Earth. This research paper concludes that considering the social and environmental aspects of sustainability and employing experienced staff would majorly contribute to the pursuit of SE in SMEs of food industry.

Highlights

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a very important role in the industrialization and development of an economy as they make-up over 98 percent of all enterprises in Europe, which in turn, employ more than half of those employed in the European Union [1,2,3]
According to Kuckertz and Wagner (2010) [6], the main literature on sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) has often focused on the environmental aspects of entrepreneurship [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15], while other investigations in this area have mainly dealt with the social dimension of SE [16,17,18]
With respect to the social aspect, the SME managers responded that social supports, human resources, customer orientation and the staff training are the most important factors for the sustainable performance of SMEs

Summary

Introduction

SMEs play a very important role in the industrialization and development of an economy as they make-up over 98 percent of all enterprises in Europe, which in turn, employ more than half of those employed in the European Union [1,2,3]. SMEs constitute the majority of enterprises in developing countries and are considered as one of the most important factors in economic and social growth, employment, local development [4] and poverty reduction [5]. According to Kuckertz and Wagner (2010) [6], the main literature on SE has often focused on the environmental aspects of entrepreneurship [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15], while other investigations in this area have mainly dealt with the social dimension of SE [16,17,18]. The scarcity of academic works and publications calls for more research as well as the potential development of this area, the existing research predominantly focused on only one aspect (namely the social or environmental pillars). There is a significant need to pay more attention to the sustainability of SMEs

Objectives

Results

Conclusion