Title: SMEs' attitudes toward natural resource conservation within their supply chain to enhance sustainability: a study in Sri Lanka

Authors: Hansini Pramudika; M.M. Tajan Fernando; M.L.U. Kumudumali Piyasena

Addresses: Department of Research, Blue Ocean Insights (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka ' Department of Research, Blue Ocean Insights (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka ' Department of Public Administration, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

Abstract: This study aims to measure the attitudes of Sri Lankan SMEs toward natural resource conservation (NRC), NRC practices in supply chain (SC), and their impact on business sustainability (BS). NRC within SC is identified as the antecedent while the construct of attitudes toward NRC is selected as the mediator. The descriptive statistics of 265 respondents are evaluated by SPSS. Path coefficients and mediator analysis are done using the SEM with Smart PLS. NRC within SC has a significant impact on BS. The respondents have negative environmental attitudes and both the NRC practices in SC and BS are at an unfavourable level. Further, the impact of NRC within SC on BS is partially mediated by attitudes toward NRC. Moreover, the NRC within SC has a greater impact on attitudes toward NRC than on BS. The SMEs do not have inherent pro-environmental attitudes, but those are built by procedures, and rules of NRC.

Keywords: attitudes; mediator analysis; natural resource conservation; NRC; supply chain; SC; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/AJMSA.2023.134462

Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications, 2023 Vol.8 No.1, pp.31 - 52

Received: 17 Feb 2023
Accepted: 22 Apr 2023
Published online: 23 Oct 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article