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Do Entrepreneurial SMEs Perform Better Because They are More Responsible?

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Abstract

Many scholars have investigated the direct impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on performance, but this direct association seems both spurious and ambiguous because many parameters may have an indirect influence on this relationship. The present study thus considers sustainable practices—environmental practices, social practices in the workplace (SPW), and social practices in the community (SPC)—as three probable mediators in the relationship between EO and performance, which is considered in terms of its financial and non-financial dimensions. We seek to show to what extent small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) sustainable practices are useful assets, which are supported by EO, to improve performance. Using a structural equation modeling approach, data collected from 406 French SMEs were tested against the model. Our findings reveal that EO has a positive impact on the implementation of sustainable practices and that SPW partially mediate the link between EO and performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that EO plays a role in indirectly promoting performance by enhancing certain human resource management practices.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Sébastien Jésel for his assistance in statistical processing of data.

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Correspondence to Jean-Marie Courrent.

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This research has been approved by the appropriate Ethics Committee and has been performed in accordance with ethical standards. All participants gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4, 5, and 6.

Table 4 Measures of SME environmental practices (a), social practices in the workplace (b), and social practices in the community (c)
Table 5 Entrepreneurial orientation
Table 6 SME performance

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Courrent, JM., Chassé, S. & Omri, W. Do Entrepreneurial SMEs Perform Better Because They are More Responsible?. J Bus Ethics 153, 317–336 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3367-4

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