Attitudes of Hungarian leaders from SMEs sectortowards corporate sustainability and responsibility- based on focus group qualitative research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14513/tge-jres.00384Keywords:
sustainability, responsibility, small and medium-sized enterprises, corporate social responsibility (CSR)Abstract
SMEs are significant in achieving SDGs, most companies belong to this sector, play a crucial role in employment and their added value is increasing. However, it is not practical to assess the sustainability of SMEs in the same way as large companies. The research aims to survey and deeply understand the sustainability-related attitudes, stakeholders, activities and motivations in the Hungarian SMEs sector. In this article, authors share the results of their exploratory qualitative research, during which 12 SMEs managers were interviewed in 3 focus group discussions about sustainability and responsibility. Expert sampling was used, selecting managers who were less focused on the issue, as well as specifically conscious, responsible entrepreneurs until getting to the theoretical saturation point. The results of the research show that SMEs leaders have a strong sense of responsibility and are concerned about sustainability issues in their personal and entrepreneurial lives, and this also applies to those who were not included in the sample because of their outstanding sustainability performance. They believe that they have a moral obligation to make their activities more sustainable and responsible. The most important stakeholders are employees, but the natural environment and future generation are more strongly represented than in the literature. The qualitative research went beyond its independent results and helped the researchers to outline possible research questions, on the basis of which the terms used by the respondents and the quantitative variables needed for measurement could be defined in the next phase of our research on a representative sample.
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