RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2022-08

Title

Environmental Awareness and Green Business Practices in the Small Business Sector: Empirical Evidence Using a Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Survey in Japan

Abstract

This study argues that the heterogeneity in environmental awareness among business owners is a pivotal component in characterizing the implementation of green business practices in the small business sector. Specifically, using a large-scale survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout Japan, we show a gap between environmental awareness and green business practices in the small business sector; that is, SMEs are aware of environmental issues, but they do not practice green business to a large extent. Further, we quantitatively show that the environmental awareness of SMEs already practicing or attempting to practice green business tends to be greater than that of SMEs not practicing green business. Our empirical results support the link between environmental awareness as a business opportunity and green business practices. However, there is less evidence that environmental awareness divorced from management, such as the need to pass on a sustainable society to future generations, would be involved with green business practices in the small business sector. Our findings advocate that policymakers looking to strengthen environmental initiatives in the small business sector need to direct SMEs to build awareness of environmental issues related to their businesses.

Keywords

Green business practices; Environmental awareness; Small business sector; Survey data; Japan

JEL Classification

L21, Q56

Inquiries

Masahiko SHIBAMOTO
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration(RIEB)
Center for Computational Social Science (CCSS)
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
Email: shibamoto@rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp