Business responsibility and effectuation in internationalized SMEs

Abstract

Sustainability is a global trend that requires balancing environmental, social, and financial concerns. Issues related to social and environmental responsibility have attracted growing research interest in the research domains on small businesses and large multinational companies, but they are yet to be explored in the context of internationalized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which experience the liabilities of foreignness and smallness but whose share of and impact on the world economy are growing. This study connects entrepreneurial decision-making with business responsibility and explores the effects of effectual decision-making logic on responsible business practices (RBPs) and their outcomes in the context of internationalized SMEs.

The empirical part of the study was based on the survey data from a sample of 179 Finnish SMEs. The results obtained via linear regression modeling showed that a more pronounced effectual logic can lead to more RBPs in internationalized SMEs. The RBPs, in turn, were found to have a positive impact on the competitive performance of these SMEs, thus serving as mediators. This study contributes to the literature on responsible decision-making in both the research areas of internationalization of SMEs and small business responsibility.