Investigating the Effectiveness of Endogenous and Exogenous Drivers of the Sustainability (Re)Orientation of Family SMEs in Slovenia: Qualitative Content Analysis Approach

Large proportions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are family controlled and play an important role not only in the development of many national economies, but also have great potential to reduce negative effects of human activities on the natural environment and society. This important role of family SMEs has been recognized by the European Union (EU) which has integrated them in its legislative frameworks. The main question addressed in our research is whether family SMEs integrate sustainability concerns into their strategic and operative decisions as required by the EU legislative frameworks. We designed our research with the purpose to broaden our understanding of sustainability (re)orientation of family SMEs and fill the gap in the existing literature on family businesses’ sustainability. We applied a qualitative case study research method where sustainability (re)orientation of 26 family SMEs was explored. The qualitative content analysis was used in the process of analysing data. Theoretically and empirically based cognitions on endogenous and exogenous drivers of the family businesses’ sustainability (re)orientation were applied in interpretation of the research results. Our findings show the low level of sustainability (re)orientation of most of the investigated Slovenian family SMEs. The exogenous drivers have stronger effect on sustainability (re)orientation of family SMEs than endogenous drivers.