Schaefer, Anja and Williams, Sarah and Blundel, Richard (2018) Individual values and SME environmental engagement. Business and Society, 59 (4). pp. 642-675. ISSN 0007-6503

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Abstract

We study the values on which managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) draw when constructing their personal and organizational-level engagement with environmental issues, particularly climate change. Values play an important mediating role in business environmental engagement, but relatively little research has been conducted on individual values in smaller organizations. Using the Schwartz Value System (SVS) as a framework for a qualitative analysis, we identify four “ideal-types” of SME managers and provide rich descriptions of the ways in which values shape their constructions of environmental engagement. In contrast to previous research, which is framed around a binary divide between self-enhancing and self-transcending values, our typology distinguishes between individuals drawing primarily on Power or on Achievement values and indicates how a combination of Achievement and Benevolence values is particularly significant in shaping environmental engagement. This demonstrates the theoretical usefulness of focusing on a complete range of values. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: 1. Schaefer A, Williams S, Blundel R. Individual Values and SME Environmental Engagement. Business & Society. 2020;59(4):642-675. doi:10.1177/0007650317750134
Keywords:	environmental engagement; individual values; Schwartz Values System; small and medium-sized enterprises;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	9170
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650317750134
Depositing User:	Anja Schaefer
Date Deposited:	22 Jan 2018 10:17
Journal or Publication Title:	Business and Society
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Refereed:	No
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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