IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i9p3032-d165906.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Coercive Pressures on Sustainability Practices of Small Businesses in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Reginald Masocha

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Limpopo, Sovenga 0727, South Africa)

  • Olawale Fatoki

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Limpopo, Sovenga 0727, South Africa)

Abstract

The study sought to examine the role that coercive isomorphic pressures play in the sustainable development practices by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The survey research approach was utilised in the research through 222 self-administered questionnaires distributed to SME owners and managers. The structural equation modelling (SEM) method was utilised to analyse the data through the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method in Amos Version 24 software. Major findings in this study are that coercive isomorphic pressures have a significant impact on all the three dimensions of sustainable development which are economic, environmental and social. The implications are that government, environmental pressure groups and other stakeholders need to take into consideration the coercive pressures such as laws and regulations in pressuring small businesses to enhance sustainability practices. The research contributes by unearthing the extent to which coercive pressures impact the behaviour and practices of SMEs in sustainability practices. The study indicates that eventually small firms are expected to behave the same when it comes to adopting sustainability practices due to coercive isomorphism. The findings of this study further contribute toward understanding the concept of sustainable development in practice and theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Reginald Masocha & Olawale Fatoki, 2018. "The Impact of Coercive Pressures on Sustainability Practices of Small Businesses in South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3032-:d:165906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3032/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3032/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dima Jamali & Ramez Mirshak, 2007. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Theory and Practice in a Developing Country Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 243-262, May.
    2. Sutheewasinnon, Prapaipim & Hoque, Zahirul & Nyamori, Robert Ochoki, 2016. "Development of a performance management system in the Thailand public sector: Isomorphism and the role and strategies of institutional entrepreneurs," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 26-44.
    3. Corina Joseph & Ross Taplin, 2012. "Local government website sustainability reporting: a mimicry perspective," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(3), pages 363-372, July.
    4. Annemarie van Zeijl-Rozema & Ron Cörvers & René Kemp & Pim Martens, 2008. "Governance for sustainable development: a framework," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(6), pages 410-421.
    5. Christina Chiang, 2010. "Insights into current practices in auditing environmental matters," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 25(9), pages 912-933, October.
    6. Fábio Marques & Paulo Sérgio Miranda Mendonça & Charbel José Chiappetta Jabbour, 2010. "Social dimension of sustainability in retail: case studies of small and medium Brazilian supermarkets," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(2), pages 237-251, June.
    7. Flora Wang, 2016. "What are the biggest obstacles to growth of SMEs in developing countries? - A picture emerging from an enterprise survey," Working Papers IES 2016/09, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised May 2016.
    8. Suaini Othman & Faizah Darus & Roshayani Arshad, 2011. "The influence of coercive isomorphism on corporate social responsibility reporting and reputation," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 119-135, February.
    9. Hsiang-Lin Cheng & C.-M. J. Yu, 2012. "Adoption of Practices by Subsidiaries and Institutional Interaction within Internationalised Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 81-105, February.
    10. Yao Wang, 2016. "What are the biggest obstacles to growth of SMEs in developing countries? – An empirical evidence from an enterprise survey," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 16(3), pages 167-176, September.
    11. Sitalakshmi Venkatraman & Raveendranath Ravi Nayak, 2015. "Corporate sustainability: an IS approach for integrating triple bottom line elements," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 482-501, August.
    12. Suaini Othman & Faizah Darus & Roshayani Arshad, 2011. "The influence of coercive isomorphism on corporate social responsibility reporting and reputation," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(1), pages 119-135, March.
    13. Wing Chow & Yang Chen, 2012. "Corporate Sustainable Development: Testing a New Scale Based on the Mainland Chinese Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(4), pages 519-533, February.
    14. Reginald Masocha & Olawale Fatoki, 2018. "The Role of Mimicry Isomorphism in Sustainable Development Operationalisation by SMEs in South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gilbert Kwabena Amoako & Anokye M. Adam & Clement Lamboi Arthur & George Tackie, 2021. "Institutional isomorphism, environmental management accounting and environmental accountability: a review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 11201-11216, August.
    2. Gilbert K. Amoako & Anokye M. Adam & George Tackie & Clement Lamboi Arthur, 2021. "Environmental Accountability Practices of Environmentally Sensitive Firms in Ghana: Does Institutional Isomorphism Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Pingguo Xu & Leyi Chen & Huajuan Dai, 2022. "Pathways to Sustainable Development: Corporate Digital Transformation and Environmental Performance in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Mehdi Bensouda & Mimoun Benali, 2023. "The Role of Institutional Pressure and Dynamic Capabilities in Promoting Energy Efficiency Practices: Evidence from the Moroccan Manufacturing Sector," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(1), pages 352-361, January.
    5. Ambika Zutshi & Andrew Creed & Brian L. Connelly, 2018. "Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging Themes from Adopters of a Declaration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Malesios, Chrisovalantis & De, Debashree & Moursellas, Andreas & Dey, Prasanta & Evangelinos, Konstantinos, 2019. "Review of Statistical Modeling Approaches for Sustainability Analysis of Small and Medium sized Enterprises," MPRA Paper 93028, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Farah Ameer & Naveed R. Khan, 2020. "Manager’s Age, Sustainable Entrepreneurial Orientation and Sustainable Performance: A Conceptual Outlook," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    8. Young-Chan Lee & Idlir Dervishi & Saeed Mousa & Kamil I. Safiullin & Natalia V. Ruban-Lazareva & Mikhail E. Kosov & Vadim V. Ponkratov & Andrey S. Pozdnyaev & Elena V. Mikhina & Izabella D. Elyakova, 2023. "Sustainable Development Adoption in the High-Tech Sector: A Focus on Ecosystem Players and Their Influence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-29, September.
    9. Wunhong Su & Liuzhen Zhang & Chao Ge & Shuai Chen, 2022. "Association between Internal Control and Sustainability: A Literature Review Based on the SOX Act Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-30, August.
    10. Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio & Passaro, Renato & Shashi,, 2021. "Determinants of the transition towards circular economy in SMEs: A sustainable supply chain management perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    11. Reginald Masocha, 2018. "Does Environmental Sustainability Impact Innovation, Ecological and Social Measures of Firm Performance of SMEs? Evidence from South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-11, October.
    12. Obey Dzomonda, 2022. "Environmental Sustainability Commitment and Access to Finance by Small and Medium Enterprises: The Role of Financial Performance and Corporate Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
    13. Meike Nicole Schulte & Cody Morris Paris, 2024. "Working the system—An empirical analysis of the relationship between systems thinking, paradoxical cognition, and sustainability practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4154-4171, September.
    14. Zainorfarah Zainuddin & Mohammad Iranmanesh & Ming‐Lang Tseng & Behzad Foroughi & Tengku Adeline Adura Tengku Hamzah, 2021. "Clean development mechanism implementation: External and organizational factors drives expected business benefits," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3444-3453, December.
    15. Malesios, Chrisovalantis & De, Debashree & Moursellas, Andreas & Dey, Prasanta Kumar & Evangelinos, Konstantinos, 2021. "Sustainability performance analysis of small and medium sized enterprises: Criteria, methods and framework," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Md. Ahashan Habib & Md. Rezaul Karim & Marzia Dulal & Mohammad Shayekh Munir, 2022. "Impact of Institutional Pressure on Cleaner Production and Sustainable Firm Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    17. Mehfooz Ullah & Muhammad Waris Ali Khan & Lee Chia Kuang & Ammar Hussain & Faisal Rana & Asadullah Khan & Mirza Rizwan Sajid, 2020. "A Structural Model for the Antecedents of Sustainable Project Management in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-19, September.
    18. Kanwalroop K. Dhanda & Joseph Sarkis & Dileep G. Dhavale, 2022. "Institutional and stakeholder effects on carbon mitigation strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 782-795, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reginald Masocha, 2019. "Normative Environmental Configuration of SMEs within the Sustainable Development Discourse in South Africa: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-13, November.
    2. Mehfooz Ullah & Muhammad Waris Ali Khan & Lee Chia Kuang & Ammar Hussain & Faisal Rana & Asadullah Khan & Mirza Rizwan Sajid, 2020. "A Structural Model for the Antecedents of Sustainable Project Management in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Reginald Masocha & Olawale Fatoki, 2018. "The Role of Mimicry Isomorphism in Sustainable Development Operationalisation by SMEs in South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    4. Adu-Gyamfi, Richard & Kuada, John & Asongu, Simplice, 2018. "An Integrative Framework for Entrepreneurship Research in Africa," MPRA Paper 89133, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Saibal Ghosh, 2022. "Firm Performance and Productivity: Is Labour an Obstacle?," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(3), pages 709-728, September.
    6. Muhammad Arif & Mudassar Hasan & Ahmed Shafique Joyo & Christopher Gan & Sazali Abidin, 2020. "Formal Finance Usage and Innovative SMEs: Evidence from ASEAN Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Naoyuki Yoshino & Lisa Fukuda, 2019. "Gender and Corporate Success: An Empirical Analysis of Gender-Based Corporate Performance on a Sample of Asian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," Working Papers id:13032, eSocialSciences.
    8. Abderazak Bakhouche, 2022. "Assessing the Innovation-finance Nexus for SMEs: Evidence from the Arab Region (MENA)," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 1875-1895, September.
    9. Imelda T. Angeles & Ma. Socorro P. Calara & Allan B. Guzman, 2019. "The mediating effect of microfinancing on access to finance and growth of microenterprises: evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Zakia Jabeen & Jabir Ali & Nadia Yusuf, 2021. "Difference in business obstacles faced by firms across sizes: evidence from enterprise survey data of India," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 11(1), pages 71-81, December.
    11. Russell J. Craig & Niamh M. Brennan, 2012. "An exploration of the relationship between language choice in CEO letters to shareholders and corporate reputation," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 166-177, September.
    12. ONIFADE Stephen Taiwo & ACET Hakan & ÇEVİK Savaş, 2022. "Modeling The Impacts Of Msmes' Contributions To Gdp And Their Constraints On Unemployment: The Case Of African’S Most Populous Country," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 17(1), pages 154-170, April.
    13. Timothy Ayomitunde Aderemi & Adedayo Mathias Opele & Johnson Ifeanyi Okoh & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al‐Faryan, 2023. "An econometric analysis of small‐ and medium‐scale enterprises and employment creation in Nigeria," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1624-1633, April.
    14. Jing Gu & Junyao Wang & Yang Yang & Zeshui Xu, 2019. "Credit Line Models for Supply Chain Enterprises with Channel Background and Soft Information," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    15. Yilong An & Yinghua Zhang, 2021. "Crossing the Valley of Death for SMEs: Management Practices From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    16. Juliane Peters & Ana Simaens, 2020. "Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Strategy: A Case Study of the Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-35, July.
    17. Mang’unyi Eric & Govender Krishna K., 2019. "Exploring the Development Strategies of Rural Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 27(4), pages 95-123, December.
    18. Frank Ranganai Matenda & Mabutho Sibanda, 2022. "Determinants of Default Probability for Audited and Unaudited SMEs under Stressed Conditions in Zimbabwe," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-28, November.
    19. Richard Adu-Gyamfi & John Kuada & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "An Integrative Framework for Formal and Informal Entrepreneurship Research in Africa," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 167-187, April.
    20. Johan Karlsson, 2021. "Firm size and growth barriers: a data-driven approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1319-1338, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3032-:d:165906. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.