Abstract
<strong>Background:</strong> Environmental problems present the most complex and important managerial challenges of the 21st century. Most businesses have responded to these environmental problems by adopting an environmental management system.<p><strong>Aim:</strong> This article investigates South African small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners’ intentions to implement an environmental management system based on the theory of planned behaviour.</p><p><strong>Setting:</strong> Although large businesses are clearly of interest with respect to their environmental management, especially given their prominence in many of the most environmentally impactful sectors, the relative neglect of the environmental management of SMEs is disconcerting, given their overall importance in most economies. In addition, very little research used the theory of planned behaviour to empirically test SME owners’ intentions, to implement an environmental management system.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> A quantitative survey was used to collect primary data from 326 SME owners by a structured questionnaire.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Regression analysis results confirmed the influence of SME owners’ attitudes towards an environmental management system and pro-environmental norms on their intention to implement an environmental management system. Perceived behavioural control, however, did not significantly influence the SME owners’ intention to implement an environmental management system.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> These findings provide valuable insights into the implementation of environmental management systems among South African SMEs. The theory of planned behaviour also seems to be an appropriate means to investigate the intentions of SMEs to implement an environmental management system.</p>
Highlights
BackgroundGiven growing global concerns about the depletion of natural resources and reductions in biodiversity, understanding why and how businesses engage in environmental management is of increasing interest and importance to both academics and practitioners (Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn 2007; Holliday, Schmidheiny & Watts 2002; Laszlo 2003)
An environmental management system affects the business as a whole and its relationships with the natural environment
The findings of this study revealed that the majority of the respondents agreed that they intended to implement an environmental management system, and exhibited pro-environmental norms (PN)
Summary
BackgroundGiven growing global concerns about the depletion of natural resources and reductions in biodiversity, understanding why and how businesses engage in environmental management is of increasing interest and importance to both academics and practitioners (Dunphy, Griffiths & Benn 2007; Holliday, Schmidheiny & Watts 2002; Laszlo 2003). Most businesses have responded to the demand to address environmental issues by implementing environmental management systems (Sanchez-Medina, Romero-Quintero & Sosa-Cabrera 2014). The responsibility of responding to environmental issues is not limited to government and large businesses. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the largest contributors to economic activity (Brammer, Hoejmose & Marchant 2012; Klewitz & Hansen 2013). SMEs in South Africa have been identified as an important catalyst for economic growth. A single SME might not represent a substantial threat to the natural environment, given the prominence of these businesses in the economy, SMEs could have a larger collective impact on the environment than large businesses (Brammer et al 2012). Most businesses have responded to these environmental problems by adopting an environmental management system
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