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Environmental sustainability orientation and financial resources of small manufacturing firms in the Philippines

journal contribution
posted on 2012-01-01, 00:00 authored by Banjo Roxas, Doren Chadee
Purpose - This study challenges the conventional view that resources determine the extent of environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms in a developing Southeast Asian country context. First, this study attempts to develop a measurement model of ESO of small firms in the manufacturing sector in the Philippines. Second, the study explores the impact of the financial resources on the ESO of firms.

Design/methodology/approach - The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms in three Philippine cities. Multiple regression modelling is used to estimate the relationships between firm resources and ESO.

Findings - The results indicate that ESO is a multi-dimensional construct with three facets: awareness of, actions for, and appreciation of environmental sustainability. The empirical evidence does not support the conventional firm resources – ESO proposition.

Research limitations/implications - A proactive ESO is not necessarily beyond the reach of resource-constrained small firms. The generalisability of the findings however is limited to small manufacturing firms in the Philippines.

Practical implications - This study informs owner-managers of small firms that a proactive ESO does not largely depend on financial resources. Government policies and programs to encourage small firms to become sustainable should not only focus on financial forms of assistance.

Originality/value -  To date, this is the only Philippine-based study and one of the scarce small firm-focused studies that examine the proposition that small firms are unable to pursue a proactive ESO due to resource-constraints.

History

Journal

Social responsibility journal

Volume

8

Issue

2

Pagination

208 - 226

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing

Location

West Yorks, England

ISSN

1747-1117

eISSN

1758-857X

Language

eng

Notes

Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner.

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited