Stakeholders pressure, SMEs characteristics and environmental management in Ghana

Abstract

We investigate the role of stakeholders and SMEs characteristics on the extent of environmental management (EM) (natural environment) and their effect on different dimensions of environmental management practices (EMPs) (energy, water, waste, materials, pollution, and biodiversity) in Ghana. Studies examining the simultaneous effect of firm-specific characteristics and external motivators on EM and across different dimensions of EMPs are limited particularly among SMEs. We analyzed a sample of 238 manufacturing and services sector SMEs. The results suggest that primary stakeholder pressure, industry and size are significantly associated with the extent of EM. However, secondary stakeholders' pressure, firm age, and ownership type are not significant. When we dis-entangled EM into different EMPs, the results suggest that stakeholders and SMEs characteristics have different impact depending on the EMPs. The study contributes by providing evidence that the two main theoretical frameworks we relied upon in this study (stakeholder and legitimacy) can only explain why some stakeholders and SMEs characteristics are associated with EM and certain EMPs. The findings also have policy implications for equipping secondary stakeholders to have the desired influence on SMEs environmental management.