Hungarian entrepreneurs’ sustainability motivations based on GEM 2021 results

Abstract

Sustainability and its economic impacts are a leading topic both in theory and practice. The role of SMEs in reaching SDGs is prominent as the vast majority of companies belong to this sector, SMEs play a fundamental role in employment and their value added is growing. Their motivations towards sustainability issues are mixed: some of them are related to business case and others are connected to the moral obligations towards social and environmental issues. Different motivational factors cannot be distinctly compartmentalized or prioritised, but all of them have an impact on sustainability actions and performance of SMEs. In this study we present an analysis of potential connections of enterprises’ demographic features (especially their age) and their motivations towards sustainability, based on the Hungarian database of the GEM-APS-2021 survey. We have found that the age of enterprises and the main motivational factor have a significant impact on sustainability orientation: start-ups are the most likely to take environmental and social responsibility even at the expense of profit and their motive of making a change in the world has a significant and positive correlation with sustainability considerations.

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