Small And Medium-sized Enterprises Workplace Pro-environmental Behavior: An Investigation Of Contextual Predictors Of Employee's Workplace Pro-environmental Behavior Among SMEs In China And Nigeria

This research focused on contextual predictors of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises(SMEs) Employees Workplace Pro-Environmental Behavior in China and Nigeria. Small and medium-sized enterprises are common in all economies and play significant roles through contribution to economic growth, development, job creation, employment, poverty reduction and innovation. It is evident that the global economies rely on them to sustain economic stability and spearhead innovation in their clusters. The major motivation for this study was informed by the colossal concentration of SMEs in China and Nigeria coupled with attendant negative environmental problems their activities pose in both contexts. The large numbers of SMEs are favored in both countries due to the huge population and stage of economic development. China has the highest number of SMEs in Asia and the world, while the highest numbers of SMEs in Africa is also in Nigeria.Though research confirms that SMEs are important agents of growth, findings from extant literature and researchers indicate that their activities contribute to climate change and multifaceted environmental problems in different locations. Most enterprises in developing countries like China and Nigeria are small with relatively few employees and informal structures;their aggregated numbers has a significant negative effect on climate change and global environmental issues. Investigating contextual predictors of workplace pro-environmental behaviors is imperative to curb negative environmental problems and influence positive workplace pro-environmental behaviors. Researchers and environmental scholars unanimously agree that human behavior is the major underlying cause of climate change and environmental problems.Thus, this research focused on the micro level by investigating the contextual predictors of SME employee's workplace environmental behavior in China and Nigeria. The basis for the comparative study is spurred the increasing level of bilateral Sino-African relationships, influx of foreign direct investment to Nigeria, other African countries and upsurge in special free trade zones for Chinese investors and increasing migration of Chinese workforce. The research had three cardinal objectives; the first was to examine SMEs employees' workplace pro-environmental behavior in Asia and Africa's largest, most populous country: China and Nigeria. The second was to investigate major predictors of pro-environmental behaviors among SME employees in both context and the third is to identify relevant behavioral interventions that may enhance positive workplace pro-environmental behaviors. The research relied on the comprehensive action determination model using variables such as Sustainable Actions,Environmental attitude,Information Need,Intention to Act, Environmental Awareness,Perceived Behavior Control, Situational Factors, Social Norm and Habit. To achieve the study objectives,snowball sampling method was used to administer online bilingual questionnaire in Jiangsu Province, China from Spring, 2014 to Autumn 2016 and in Lagos, Nigeria, it was administered from November 2015 to February 2016. 492 questionnaires (296 in China and 196 in Nigeria)were used for data analysis. The survey questionnaire comprised of multiple Likert scale questions. Moreover, initial reliability and consistency was checked using Cronbach's alpha,Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett's Test.An initial exploratory factor analysis is done using Statistical package for the social sciences(SPSS) version 22. A principal component analysis (PCA) with orthogonal rotation (Varimax) is used to subject all measures to uni-dimensionality test using an eigenvalue > 1 criteria.Regression analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used for data reduction using SPSS version 22. Communalities among SME employees in China ranged from 0.47 to 0.81 and well dispersed while in Nigeria ranged from 0.32 to 0.70. In the regression results, SME Employees in China reported a higher level of workplace pro-environmental behavior which is due to the concerted efforts and systematic approach in tackling environmental problems and the high level of proximal attendant problems though social norms is high in both contexts. Subsequently,stepwise multiple regression analysis is performed on the predictor variables to identify useful subsets of variables and to evaluate the order of importance of predictor variables.The findings indicates that SMEs employees workplace pro-environmental behavior in China is influenced significantly by Sustainable Actions, Attitude and Environmental Awareness and also by Sustainable Actions, Situational factors, Habit and Social Norms among SME employees in Lagos, Nigeria.The data is subjected to structural equation model, model estimation and model fit was done using generalized least square technique (GLS). Using inductive and deductive reasoning, the findings in both research locations (China and Nigeria) offer distinct perspectives related to the micro and macro environment of the SMEs. In the China sample, five predictor variables significantly influenced SMEs employee workplace pro-environmental behavior; Sustainable Actions, Social Norms, Attitude, Intention to act and Perceived Behavior Control.In the Nigerian sample, six variables (Sustainable actions, Situational Conditions, Social Norms, Attitude, Habit and Perceived Behavior Control) directly and indirectly significantly influenced SMEs employee workplace pro-environmental behavior.Most of the SME employees in the Nigeria sample work in small enterprises and are exposed to different situational conditions in their business environment that impede the practice of WPEB. However, in China, the tendency of SME employees to behave negatively towards the environment is reduced by the strong effect of social norms and pressures in most places. The direct and indirect effect of these predictor variables confirms the complexity in investigating environmental behavior. The main novelty of the research includes the followings.First, the attempt to examine workplace pro-environmental behavior in a comparative context between two strategic partners in different continent is important for understanding appropriate behavioral intervention in the workplace in China and Nigeria. This fills literature gaps and bases for policy formulation and behavioral change processes. Second, the research focuses onemployees, the main drivers of workplace pro-environmental behavior.Employees spend a larger percentage of their day and time in the workplace and thus investigating their current state reveal gaps, enhanced identification of variables that can enhance positive pro-environmental behaviors.Third, investigating SMEs in the most populous countries in Asia and Africa has a significant positive effect on global efforts to reduce climate change and global warming. Also,understanding the behavioral patterns of SMEs environmental contexts would help policy makers design appropriate environmental management systems that will suit SMEs.