Determinants of managerial responses to environmental issues in small and medium enterprises in Turkey


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, İşletme Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2009

Öğrenci: TAYYAR CAN ÜNVER

Danışman: SEMRA FERİHA AŞCIGİL

Özet:

The main purpose of this study is to identify the major driving factors that determine the environmental commitments and certification ownership of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey. Turkey has been undergoing major economic and environmental developments since 1990ies. SMEs play a significant role in the Turkish economy, constituting 99.8% of total enterprises in number. Even though most managers overlook their firms’ particular impacts, SMEs’ cumulative effect on natural environment is significant. According to previous research, regulations, community, competitors, suppliers, consumers and media have been found to be the main external determinants that affect a manager’s attitudes about the environment and therefore his or her firm’s environmental commitments; whereas managers’ beliefs about the environment, their confidence in their firm’s abilities and resources and their environmental governance principles are the internal determinants. In line with previous research findings, this study tries to examine the effects of these factors along with the demographic characteristics of the manager’s. As the results of the questionnaire distributed to 80 SME managers in Ankara suggest, institutional and social pressures and manager’s confidence in him/herself and his/her firm’s abilities showed to have significant influence on the firm’s environmental commitments, along with the size of the company and the education level of the manager. In addition to that, external pressures and size are also major factors driving SMEs to obtain environmental certifications.