The Factors Affecting ESG Adoption Intention of SMEs

Purpose: This study was conducted to empirically analyze the factors affecting ESG(Environmental, Social, and Governance) adoption intentions of SMEs(Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), which has become a hot topic recently. To this end, the usefulness and adoption easiness of ESG were primarily derived as the influencing factor. In addition, the CEO(Chief Executive Officer) ‘s will was derived because the CEO’s role in decision-making was absolutely essential due to the characteristics of SMEs. Subsequently, as the ESG management environmental factors, the customer’s request or support for ESG management, government support, and reflection in credit evaluation were judged to be very important factors, and these were adopted as variables. Research design, data, and methodology: To empirically analyze this, a survey was conducted, and 276 valid samples were selected for analysis. For statistical analysis, a hierarchical regression analysis method using SPSS 24.0 was used. Results: As a result of the empirical analysis of this study, the usefulness of ESG, adoption easiness of ESG, the CEO’s will, the customer’s request or support for ESG management, the government support, and the reflection of credit evaluation all had a significant positive (+) effect on ESG adoption intentions of SMEs. In particular, the CEO’s will was found to be the most influential variable. Implications: The results of this study had academic implications in that they derived influence variables and empirically tested them in research related to the adoption of ESG in SMEs. It was a practical implication that, above all else, the CEO’s will and win-win relationship with large corporations in the same ecosystem are important for successful ESG adoption in SMEs.