Sustainability in SMEs: Motives, Barriers, and Challenges of Environmental Management Systems Certification

Abstract: This study aims to understand how SMEs in Sweden perceive the pre- and post-implementation motives of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) certificates through understanding motives for adopting EMS certificates for the first time and understanding motives for maintaining the certificates. Moreover, the study also aims to understand the barriers and challenges of EMS certificates in order to identify reasons that prevent SMEs from adopting certificates. Institutional pressures (coercive, mimetic, normative) may have an influence over the implementation, or it could be a decision by the company in hope of marketing and publicity benefits among others. The chosen methodology was a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews in specific. The method is most suitable for the research questions in this paper taking into consideration both the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Contrary to previous research we find that the environmental focus is the main reason for the implementation of EMS certificates in the studied companies along with normative pressure. No coercive pressures were experienced by the companies to adopt certificates, however other motives such as marketing effect, monetary benefits, and improved control system were part of the motives. The main barriers and challenges as discussed based on the findings were high maintenance cost of certificates, increased bureaucracy processes, extensive documentation, and stressful audits. In relation to previous literature, this study contributes to the literature on SMEs and integrated control systems but in a Swedish setting which could be considered as research on an understudied area. The study affirms previous research in some cases and brings different views that were not discussed before in the field on different instances. One conclusion would be that EMS certificates contribute towards improved integrated control systems over time.