With increased public environmental awareness and support for environmental
protection, business success is becoming more dependant on environmental
performance. Many large companies have acknowledged this and are engaged in
corporate environmentalism to work towards the goal of ecological sustainability. The
small business sector has an equally important role to play in sustainable development
since their combined impact on the environment is significant. The extent to which the
small business sector in South Africa has adopted a pro-environmental attitude however,
has not been established. This research therefore attempts to ascertain the level of
environmental awareness and practice within small business.
To achieve this aim, a questionnaire was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative
data from a sample population of small businesses in Edenvale, Gauteng. The sample
population represented a variety of economic sectors. The quantitative data was
analysed statistically by calculating the percentage of respondents or responses and by
performing a test of proportions. The qualitative data was used to clarify the findings.
The results suggested that the overall level of environmental awareness and practice
within the small businesses was very low. Environmental issues were not considered to
be a part of the business agenda as small business managers were unaware of the
environmental impacts of their business activities. Moreover, there was a lack of both
environmental pressures and information. The majority of the small businesses were
therefore environmentally inactive. A small proportion of the businesses were
environmentally reactive in that they had started to address environmental issues. This
was however, only in response to environmental pressures and not through their own
volition. Furthermore, unless subjected to environmental pressures or given incentives,
the small businesses were not planning to integrate environmental practices into their
business activities in the future. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/5547 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Dobeyn, Ciranne Joy. |
| Contributors | De Waal, D. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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