Entrepreneur's pro-environmental behavior: The mediating role of corporate social responsibility

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate corporate social responsibility CSR as a mediating factor affecting the separate relationships between pro-environmental behavior (PEB) and both environmental education (EE) and environmental concern (EC). The framework in this study was based on the theory of planned behavior which presents the relationship between attitude, norms and intention. The list of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for this research was randomly selected from the database of the Department of Business Development, Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. A self-administered questionnaire was developed to collect the data from owners and managers of SMEs. The two-sampling research method was a combination of mailed self-administered questionnaires and purposive sampling methods. A total of 774 surveys from 401 enterprises were used in this study. The result for mediation effect of corporate social responsibility was significant, indicating that corporate social responsibility mediated the relationship between environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior (β = .52, p < 0.01). Additionally, environmental education (β = .18, p < 0.01) and environmental concern (β = .72, p < 0.01) impacts corporate social responsibility and is statistically significant to pro-environmental behavior (β = .37, p < 0.01). SMEs should focus on the environmental concern within their organizational communications, and provide environmental education, as they are key dimensions in driving the pro-environmental behavior of the SMEs. The practical implication of this study is that in order to enhance PEB among Thai SMEs, there is a need to ensure adequate amount of CSR activities in Thai SMEs. © Behavioral Science Research Institute.