| Title | Is sustainability a competitive advantage for small businesses? An empirical analysis of possible mediators in the sustainability financial performance relationship |
|---|---|
| ID_Doc | 75770 |
| Authors | Cantele, S; Zardini, A |
| Title | Is sustainability a competitive advantage for small businesses? An empirical analysis of possible mediators in the sustainability financial performance relationship |
| Year | 2018 |
| Published | |
| Abstract | The contribution of a single firm to sustainable development is largely dependent on the firm's perceptions of the advantages of sustainability strategies and consequent practices. The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance has been heavily debated, with mixed results. Our research is aimed at defining a model in which sustainability practices affect firm financial performance via strategic drivers or antecedents of firm success. We used structural equation modeling on data collected via survey of 348 Italian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. We included four constructs dedicated to sustainability, a construct dedicated to financial performance and four constructs measuring the possible mediators in the sustainability-financial performance relationship. We found that the social, economic and formal practices dimensions of sustainability positively affect competitive advantage, mediated by corporate reputation, customer satisfaction and organisational commitment. We also found competitive advantage to be a second-stage mediator that positively contributes to financial performance. The contribution of our study lies in having tested a new model of the sustainability-financial performance relationship, considering each dimension of sustainability and a path through different mediators in an under-explored context that of manufacturing small businesses in a European country. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Similar Articles
| ID | Score | Article |
|---|---|---|
70528
|
Chang, DS; Kuo, LCR The Effects of Sustainable Development on Firms' Financial Performance - an Empirical Approach(2008)Sustainable Development, 16, 6 | |
| 74076
|
Lee, YM; Hu, JL Integrated Approaches for Business Sustainability: The Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility(2018)Sustainability, 10, 7 | |
| 69425
|
Le, TT; Ikram, M Do sustainability innovation and firm competitiveness help improve firm performance? Evidence from the SME sector in vietnam(2022) | |
| 73625
|
Gupta, AK; Gupta, N Effect of corporate environmental sustainability on dimensions of firm performance - Towards sustainable development: Evidence from India(2020) | |
| 28795
|
Sarfraz, M; Ivascu, L; Belu, R; Artene, A Accentuating the interconnection between business sustainability and organizational performance in the context of the circular economy: The moderating role of organizational competitiveness(2021)Business Strategy And The Environment, 30.0, 4 | |
| 17607
|
Lopez-Torres, GC The impact of SMEs' sustainability on competitiveness(2023)Measuring Business Excellence, 27, 1 | |
| 70652
|
Cantele, S; Zardini, A What drives small and medium enterprises towards sustainability? Role of interactions between pressures, barriers, and benefits(2020)Corporate Social Responsibility And Environmental Management, 27, 1 | |
| 73349
|
López-Pérez, ME; Melero-Polo, I; Vázquez-Carrasco, R; Cambra-Fierro, J Sustainability and Business Outcomes in the Context of SMEs: Comparing Family Firms vs. Non-Family Firms(2018)Sustainability, 10, 11 | |
| 77113
|
Hong, P; Roh, JJ; Rawski, G Benchmarking sustainability practices: evidence from manufacturing firms(2012)Benchmarking-An International Journal, 19, 4-5 | |
| 77213
|
Malesios, C; Skouloudis, A; Dey, PK; Ben Abdelaziz, F; Kantartzis, A; Evangelinos, K Impact of small- and medium-sized enterprises sustainability practices and performance on economic growth from a managerial perspective: Modeling considerations and empirical analysis results(2018)Business Strategy And The Environment, 27, 7 |