Businesses have been criticised for their contribution towards the ever-increasing rate of destruction of the natural environment. Although businesses have responded by adapting their management practices, production processes and products, they still face a number of challenges in reducing their environmental impact. One way in which businesses have responded to the environmental crisis is by implementing environmental management systems. Despite the importance of environmental management implementation, researchers have neglected to identify the antecedents that could lead to environmental management system implementation in South African small and medium-sized businesses. Indeed, much of the research on environmental management has concentrated on large business in Europe or the United States. The limited research that has been conducted on environmental management in small and medium-sized businesses has been descriptive in nature, and fails to produce results that are generalisable and that advance the understanding on this topic. Given this situation, the objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a theoretical model to explain the implementation of environmental management systems in small and medium-sized businesses. A quantitative survey methodology was adopted in this study to test the proposed theoretical model empirically. In total, 417 small and medium-sized businesses participated in the survey; 326 of these were not implementing an environmental management system, and 91 were implementing such a system. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the sample data. The findings of this analysis suggest that the respondents had a favourable attitude toward environmental management systems; they were aware of environmental issues; they perceived themselves and their businesses as able to deal with the barriers to environmental management system implementation; they felt personally obligated to reduce their business‟ environmental impact; and they perceived actions aimed at reducing their businesses‟ environmental impact as socially desirable. To test the hypothesised relationships in the theoretical model, correlation and multiple regression analyses were used. The hypotheses dealing with the relationship between the environmental antecedents and the owner-manager‟s intention to implement an environmental management system, and the actual implementation of an environmental management system, were supported in this study. Thus, the environmental antecedents were found to be positively related to the small and medium-sized business owners‟ intention to implement an environmental management system; to their formal and informal implementation of an environmental management system; and to their practices related to waste management and legal compliance. Empirical evidence to support the hypothesised effect of resource constraints as a moderating variable was found in this study. In terms of environmental values, support was found for the moderating effect of egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values. In terms of the biographical characteristics of the business owners, significant moderating effects were found for gender and age, but not for education. Gender influenced the relationships between the environmental antecedents, attitude towards an environmental management system and personal pro-environmental norms, and the intention to implement an environmental management system. Age moderated the relationship between subjective pro-environmental norms, waste management, and legal compliance. Given the empirical evidence provided in this study, it is recommended that greater awareness of environmental issues be fostered among small and medium-sized business owners as well as the individuals who influence their decision-making. There is also a need to reinforce the positive business outcomes of environmental management system implementation, as well as the personal and social obligations to protect the natural environment among small and medium-sized business owners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:20362 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Lillah, Riyaadh |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, DCom |
| Format | pdf, xvi, 274 leaves |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds