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Intellectual capital and environmental concern in subsistence small businesses

Carlos Maria Jardon (Department of Applied Economics, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain) (Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Perm, Russia)
Amandio Dasilva (Department of Business and Finance, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal)

Management of Environmental Quality

ISSN: 1477-7835

Article publication date: 13 March 2017

796

Abstract

Purpose

Small businesses created as a subsistence activity (subsistence small businesses (SSBs)), often are oriented towards the short term. The environmental performance, by contrast, is an indicator of long-term strategies. The purpsoe of this paper is to analyse how intellectual capital (IC) dimensions affect environmental concern, preparing SSBs to have a proper environmental behaviour in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

A method based on the partial least square technique is suggested to select the model and estimate the parameters. A sample of 113 small businesses in the timber industry in a region of Argentina was selected for this study.

Findings

The results indicate that IC promotes environmental concern. Relational capital directly affects environmental concern, human capital and structural capital and these, in turn, indirectly affect the environmental concern through relational capital in SSBs.

Research limitations/implications

The sample used is a cross-section. IC is subjectively measured. This paper only studies small businesses in the timber sector in a region of Latin America.

Practical implications

This paper enables practitioners and scholars to understand and make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster SSB growth in environmental concern. The paper suggests a combination of strategies in order to achieve a sustained development.

Originality/value

The authors tested the impact of dimensions of IC on environmental concern in SSB of developing countries, showing the importance of IC in sustained strategies in these companies.

Keywords

Citation

Jardon, C.M. and Dasilva, A. (2017), "Intellectual capital and environmental concern in subsistence small businesses", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 214-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-05-2015-0085

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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