Sustainable innovation among small businesses: The role of digital orientation, the external environment, and company characteristics

Abstract This study aimed to identify the internal and external environments of a company that affect sustainable innovation in such small enterprises by examining the circumstances under which small enterprises are likely to engage in sustainable innovation. The results of this study demonstrate that companies with high levels of digital orientation in their operations contributed more to sustainable innovation than those without such high levels. In addition, in the external environment, factors that include market and technological turbulence have a negative effect on sustainable innovation. However, the adoption of sustainable innovation was not significantly impacted by market turbulence. Furthermore, certain company characteristics, such as size and maturity, do not determine the contribution of a company's internal and external environments to sustainable innovation.